作者机构：
[Sun, Zhifang; Zheng, Jun] Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Water Environment and Agriculture Product Safety, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China;[Fan, Rong; Tang, Tao; Wang, Yang] Institute of Integrative Medicine, Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Liver Manifestation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, China;Key Laboratry of Materials Processing and Mold, Ministry of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China;[Liu, Jiamiao; Yao, Honghui; Yan, Yujie] Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, 410013, China;[Ran, Lu; Yi, Lunzhao] Yunnan Food Safety Research Institute, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650500, China
通讯机构：
[Yi Zhang] K;[Tao Tang; Yang Wang] I;Institute of Integrative Medicine, Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Liver Manifestation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China<&wdkj&>Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Water Environment and Agriculture Product Safety, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China<&wdkj&>Institute of Integrative Medicine, Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Liver Manifestation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
摘要：
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
通讯机构：
[Tang, T; Wang, Y ; Zhang, Y; Zhang, Y ] C;Cent South Univ, Coll Chem & Chem Engn, Key Lab Hunan Prov Water Environm & Agr Prod Safe, Changsha 410083, Hunan, Peoples R China.;Cent South Univ, Xiangya Hosp, Inst Integrat Med, Key Lab Hunan Prov Liver Manifestat Tradit Chines, Changsha 410008, Hunan, Peoples R China.
摘要：
Self-assembling natural drug hydrogels formed without structural modification and able to act as carriers are of interest for biomedical applications. A lack of knowledge about natural drug gels limits there current application. Here, we report on rhein, a herbal natural product, which is directly self-assembled into hydrogels through noncovalent interactions. This hydrogel shows excellent stability, sustained release and reversible stimuli-responses. The hydrogel consists of a three-dimensional nanofiber network that prevents premature degradation. Moreover, it easily enters cells and binds to toll-like receptor 4. This enables rhein hydrogels to significantly dephosphorylate IkappaBalpha, inhibiting the nuclear translocation of p65 at the NFkappaB signalling pathway in lipopolysaccharide-induced BV2 microglia. Subsequently, rhein hydrogels alleviate neuroinflammation with a long-lasting effect and little cytotoxicity compared to the equivalent free-drug in vitro. This study highlights a direct self-assembly hydrogel from natural small molecule as a promising neuroinflammatory therapy.
