Evaluation of Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging of Polydopamine with Different Nanostructures

Abstract Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in cellular metabolism and many oxidative stress‐related diseases, while excessive accumulation of ROS will lead to genetic changes in cells and promote the occurrence of inflammatory diseases or cell death. Nature‐inspired polydopamine (PDA) with tailored nanostructures emerges as an ROS scavenger and is considered as an effective approach to inflammation‐related diseases. However, the effects of nanoparticle structure on PDA scavenging efficacy and efficiency remain uncovered. In this work, three typical PDA nanoparticles including solid PDA, mesoporous PDA, and hollow PDA are synthesized, and of which physiochemical properties are characterized. Furthermore, their ROS scavenging performance is investigated by in vitro evaluation of radical removal. Among the three nanoparticles, mesoporous PDA is demonstrated to have the highest scavenging capability, mainly due to its specific surface area. Finally, the study on three in vivo inflammation models is constructed. The results confirm that mesoporous PDA is the most potent scavenger of ROS and more effective in reducing reperfusion injury, improving renal function, and preventing periodontitis progression, respectively. Together with the good biosafety and biocompatibility profiles, PDA nanoparticles, mesoporous PDA in particular, can be a promising avenue of ROS scavenging in fight against the inflammatory diseases.