Procyanidins Boost the Neuroprotective Effect of Minocycline for Intracerebral Haemorrhage

Poor prognosis is often expected after the treatment of intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) when the approach lacks effective neuroprotective interventions. Minocycline (Mino) is a promising clinical neuroprotective candidate for acute ICH therapy that mainly inhibits activation of microglia/macrophages. However, to address iron neurotoxicity, ferroptosis, and oxidative stress-induced multiple neuroinjury mechanisms, the neuroprotective effect of minocycline still urgently needs to be enhanced. To address this issue, procyanidins (PACs), typical natural polyphenols, is used to improve the neuroprotective effect of Mino by constructing PACs-Mino nanoparticles (NPs) using 3-aminophenylboronic acid as the crosslinker. The yielding NPs possessed improved antioxidant and iron-removing capacities in vitro. More importantly, PACs-Mino NPs exerted excellent therapeutic effects on ICH, showing improved neuroprotective activity and resulting in neurobehavioral recovery, in an in vitro cellular model and an in vivo ICH rat model. This study can provide a general strategy that uses natural polyphenols to boost the performance of drugs for ICH treatment, and the results may be further extended to other injuries of the central nervous system, such as brain injury and spinal cord injury.