A Co(II)-mediated coordination polymer: treatment capability on post-traumatic osteoarthritis via reducing inflammatory response

By using a mixed-ligand approach, a new Co(II)-mediated coordination polymer (CP) with the chemical formula of {[Co(L)(ipa)]·EtOH}_n (<b>1</b>) has been successfully prepared by reaction of Co(OAc)₂·4H₂O with isophthalic acid (H₂ipa) as well as the N-donor ligand 1,3-bis(benzimidazol-1-yl)-2-propanol (L) under the solvothermal reaction condition. Furthermore, the nano-sheet of compound <b>1</b> was prepared by grinding method, which has good water-dispersion. The <i>in vivo</i> protective effect of nano <b>1</b> was evaluated on post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OA) model. First of all, the Enzyme-linked immunoblotting (ELISA) detection was performed to detect the content of the inflammatory cytokines in OA rats. Next, the relative expression levels of <i>caspase-1</i>, <i>nlrp3</i> as well as <i>il-1β</i> inflammatory cytokine genes were measured with real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). The potential binding mode of the compound and the NLRP3 was predicted by performing computational docking and pose scoring process, indicating a possible binding site of the compound on NLRP3.