Carnosine-Modified Fullerene as a Highly Enhanced ROS Scavenger for Mitigating Acute Oxidative Stress
Haijun Ma, Jiajia Zhao, Haibing Meng, Dan‐Ning Hu, Yue Zhou, Xiaoyan Zhang, Chunru Wang, Jie Li, Jinying Yuan, Yen Wei
Abstract
Fullerenes are known as highly efficient scavengers for reactive oxygen species (ROSs). In this study, a carnosine-modified fullerene derivative (C 60 –Car) was synthesized via a one-step nucleophilic addition reaction. C 60 –Car forms nanoparticles (NPs) readily in water at neutral pH and room temperature through self-assembly. The C 60 –Car NPs were found to possess good water solubility, biocompatibility, and excellent ROSs scavenging capability. The scavenging efficiency of ROSs is as high as 92.49% and significantly better than that of hydroxyfullerene (C 60 –OH NPs, 70.92%) and l -carnosine. Furthermore, C 60 –Car NPs showed strong cytoprotective ability against H 2 O 2 -induced damage to the normal human fetal hepatocyte cells (L-02) and human epidermal keratinocytes-adult (HEK-a) cells at a lower concentration of 2.5 μM. In contrast, C 60 –OH NPs showed a minor cytoprotective effect on cells at a high concentration of 10 μM. The excellent properties of such a fullerene derivative, C 60 –Car, can be attributed largely to the involvement of l -carnosine with biological activity and antioxidant property, which make it better for biomedicine, and it may provide a new strategy for mitigating acute oxidative stress based on fullerene materials.