AUTHOR=Wei Dong-zhuo , Li Dan , Zheng Dan-meng , An Zhen-ni , Xing Xue-jiao , Jiang Ding-wen , Mei Xi-fan , Liu Chang 

TITLE=Curcumin Conjugated Gold Nanoclusters as Perspective Therapeutics for Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.763892

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.763892

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=Accumulation of lipids in the myocardium contributes to the development of cardiac dysfunctions and various chronic diseases, such as diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Curcumin can relieve lipid accumulation problems, but its efficiency is limited by poor water solubility and biocompatibility. Herein, gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) were used to improve the efficiency of curcumin, and the conjugates Curcumin-AuNCs (Curcumin-AuNCs is always abbreviated as AuCur in the following articles) were developed. In the treatment of high-fat induced myocardial cell damage, we found that AuCur could effectively reduce intracellular lipid accumulation, the increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the increase of mitochondrial division and the increase of apoptosis compared with curcumin (curcumin is always abbreviated as Cur in the following articles). AuCur decreased the expression of PPARα, and the therapeutic effect of AuCur was cancelled when the expression of PPARα was enhanced. For the above reasons, AuCur treated the toxic effect of high lipid on cardiomyocytes by regulating PPARα, providing a new idea and method for the treatment of DCM.