Wedelolactone-Loaded Micelles Ameliorate Doxorubicin-Induced Oxidative Injury in Podocytes by Improving Permeability and Bioavailability.

Wedelolactone (WED) is commonly used for the treatment of doxorubicin (DOX)-induced kidney damage, but its efficacy is limited by its poor solubility and bioavailability. In this study, we developed a novel delivery system of WED-loaded micelles (WED-M) with Solutol (R) HS15 and lecithin at an optimized ratio of 7:3 to improve the poor permeability and bioavailability of WED and to enhance its efficacy. The spherically shaped WED-M (particle size: 160.5 +/- 3.4 nm; zeta potential: -30.1 +/- 0.9 mV; entrapment efficiency: 94.41 +/- 1.64%; drug loading: 8.58 +/- 0.25%; solubility: 1.89 +/- 0.06 mg/ml) has continuous stability over 14 days and a sustained release profile. The permeability of WED-M in Caco-2 cells indicated a significant 1.61-fold higher Papp AP to BL ratio than WED alone. Additionally, pharmacokinetic evaluation of WED-M demonstrated that the bioavailability of WED was increased 2.78-fold. Both HE staining and transmission electron microscopy showed an obvious improvement of pathological damage in WED-M treatment. Moreover, WED-M significantly enhanced the ROS level in mice and MPC5 podocytes. We concluded that using this micelle delivery system for WED could improve its permeability and bioavailability to attenuate DOX-induced oxidative injury in podocytes. This study provided important information on the fact that the micelle delivery system, WED-M, showed a significant improvement of renal damage.