| dc.description.abstract | Liver fibrosis is a chronic condition caused by the repetitive or prolonged liver
injury that is currently has limited treatments. Silymarin, a hydrophobic drug, has
demonstrated the potential anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, however, its
poor solubility in aqueous solution and low bioavailability in the gastrointestinal (GI)
tract limit its therapeutic effects. Henceforth, this thesis work aimed to employ the use
of the silica-containing redox nanoparticles (siRNP) as nanocarriers to entrap silymarin
and orally deliver to the liver site for fibrosis treatment. Via the mechanism of selfassembly of amphiphilic block copolymers, siRNP was prepared with two prominent
characteristics. First, owning to its absorptive silica moieties that form the crosslinking
structure in the core, siRNP was shown to be capable of providing the high and stable
state of hydrophobic drug loading. Second, the nanoparticle backbone at the side chain
of hydrophobic segment was designed with covalently conjugated nitroxide radicals
that exposed great antioxidant properties. This designed siRNP therefore offering an
useful drug delivery compound in harsh condition of GI tract. According to in vitro
testing, SM@siRNP exerted an improving in the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
effects and as also the minimal toxicity against RAW 264.7 murine macrophage. The
in vivo therapeutic effects investigation using a mice model of 4 weeks carbon
tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis in conjunction with orally treating with
SM@siRNP at the dose of 20 mg/kg showed the reduction in the degree of
inflammation in comparison to free silymarin. Ultimately, SM@siRNP was
emphasized as a potential therapeutic compounds for liver fibrosis treatment. | en_US |
