Chitosan nanoparticles loaded with velvet antler polypeptides for intervention in autoimmune hepatitis

Abstract

In this study, the aim was to fabricate oral delivery of velvet antler polypeptide-chitosan nanoparticles by ionic gelation and the characters of the nanoparticles in vitro were evaluated. The attenuating effects of the nanoparticles on liver injury were performed on mice. Bioactive peptides were extracted from antler velvet via enzymatic hydrolysis and 3568 peptide sequences were identified through De Novo sequencing. The nanoparticles exhibited an average size of 125.1 ± 3.4 nm with a zeta potential of +29 mV. The analysis of Transmission electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry investigated the interaction among velvet antler polypeptide, chitosan and tripolyphosphate. A network pharmacology combining molecular docking strategy was adopted to predict the signaling pathway involved in the anti-autoimmune hepatitis. The results revealed that the velvet antler polypeptide-chitosan nanoparticles exerted promising hepatoprotective potential against concanavalin A-induced liver damage by increasing aspartate transaminase and alanine aminotransferase activities significantly. Immunohistochemistry staining showed that the expression of CD4+ cells in velvet antler polypeptide groups was significantly reduced compared with that of the model group. Tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ and interleukin IL-6 levels in serum in concanavalin A group were significantly higher than those of velvet antler polypeptide groups. Chitosan nanoparticles can be a suitable oral delivery for velvet antler polypeptide to treat autoimmune hepatitis.