Resveratrol-silica aerogel nanodrug complex system enhances the treatment of sports osteoarthritis by activating SIRT-1

Sports osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent chronic joint disease in professional and recreational athletes. Resveratrol (RES), which is extracted from plants, has excellent anti-inflammatory properties. However, its application in OA treatment is limited by its poor water solubility, low bioavailability, and rapid metabolism. In this study, a silica aerogel (SA) was prepared through the sol-gel method and used to carry RES in the form of a nanodrug complex system (RSA) with a high drug-loading rate of 21.8% and a sustained release effect that lasted more than 6 hours. RSA had good biocompatibility in human chondrocytes when the concentration was less than 40 mu g/mL and enhanced the anti-inflammatory actions of RES in vitro. A rat model of exercise-induced osteoarthritis was constructed to examine the therapeutic effects of RSA in vivo. Furthermore, the inflammatory factors involved in cartilage degradation and catabolism were reduced to 14.6-19.1% those of the original values after RES intervention, while the expression of type II collagen significantly increased. Moreover, RES was found to activate SIRT-1 by inhibiting the NF-kappa B-mediated inflammatory pathway, which also alleviated the degradation of cartilage matrix. These results indicated that the use of RSA could provide a novel noninvasive approach for targeted OA therapy with the potential for oral drug delivery.

Automated summary

In this study, a silica aerogel was prepared to carry resveratrol as a nanodrug complex system, which showed high drug-loading rate and sustained release effect. The complex system demonstrated good biocompatibility and enhanced anti-inflammatory actions in human chondrocytes in vitro. In a rat model of exercise-induced osteoarthritis, the complex system reduced inflammatory factors and increased the expression of type II collagen. Resveratrol was found to activate SIRT-1 and alleviate cartilage degradation through inhibiting the NF-kappa B-mediated inflammatory pathway. These findings suggest that the complex system could provide a novel noninvasive approach for targeted osteoarthritis therapy with potential for oral drug delivery.