Abstract:

Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-block-polyethylene glycol (PEG)/perfluoroctyl bromide (PFOB) emulsion, in which PLGA-block-PEG, as the carrier, is combined with perfluorocty bromide, is developed to improve arterial hypoxemia and ameliorate the lung ventilation through pulmonary drug delivery. The cell viability increased obviously, which shows that the emulsion has certain positive effects on the cell proliferation. Moreover, the emulsion can help cells quickly recover from the anoxic symptoms as indicated by cell hypoxia-reoxygenation experiment. When cells were incubated with the emulsion under hypoxia, an obvious increase of cell growth was observed, which indicated that the emulsion was capable of providing sufficient oxygen for cells. Then we established two different models of rabbits to investigate whether the PLGA-b-PEG/PFOB emulsion could improve lung ventilation of animals. The impressive result confirmed that the lung ventilation was ameliorated significantly after treatment of emulsion for a period of time. The histological assays further verified the emulsion had good biocompatibility. Furthermore, the concentration of HIF-1 alpha in tissues were evaluated by immunohistochemistry and western respectively to confirm the fact that the emulsion could significantly promote the expression of HIF-1 alpha in lung tissue cells which may have important contributions to tissue survival. In summary, the emulsion was confirmed to supply oxygen for cells and organisms to improve arterial hypoxemia, which reflects the tremendous potential application value in the field of alleviating hypoxemia in future.

Key words: poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-block-polyethylene glycol/perfluoroctyl bromide emulsion, hypoxia-reoxygena- tion, pulmonary drug delivery, perfluorocarbon