Abstract
Vascular diseases seriously threaten human life and health. Exogenous delivery of nitric oxide (NO) represents an effective approach for maintaining vascular homeostasis during pathological events. However, the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) at vascular injury sites would react with NO to produce damaging peroxynitrite (ONOO-) species and limit the therapeutic effect of NO. Hence, we design a ROS-responsive NO nanomedicine (t-PBA&NO NP) with ROS scavenging ability to solve the dilemma of NO-based therapy. t-PBA&NO NP targets NO and anti-oxidant ethyl caffeate (ECA) to the injury sites via collagen IV homing peptide. The ROS-triggered ROS depletion and ECA release potently alleviate local oxidative stress via ROS scavenging, endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial regulation. It subsequently maximizes vascular modulation effects of NO, without production of harmful compounds, reactive nitrogen species (RNS). Therefore, it significantly increases competitiveness of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) over human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) both in vitro and in vivo. The strategy proved effective in inducing faster re-endothelialization, inhibiting neointimal formation and restoring vascular homeostasis. The synergy between ROS depletion and NO therapy served as a new inspiration for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and other ROS-associated illnesses.