PSS and its trimethyl chitosan coating multivesicular liposomes ameliorate transverse aortic constriction-induced cardiac hypertrophy.

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is one of the main causes of heart failure, with a highly complex pathogenesis. Currently, there is no specific therapeutic drugs available in clinical practice. Propylene glycol alginate sodium sulfate (PSS) is a heparin-like drug, which plays an important role in anticoagulation, antithrombosis and lipid-lowering. Here, PSS-loaded multivesicular liposomes coated with trimethyl chitosan were developed and their therapeutic effects on ameliorating myocardial hypertrophy were investigated. The PSS-loaded multivesicular liposomes achieved high encapsulation efficiency and sustained-release of PSS. Animal-level results showed that the new PSS formulation could delay the progression of myocardial hypertrophy. Additionally, the cell-level studies identified that PSS could inhibit myocardial cell hypertrophy and prevent fibrosis through MAPK and TGF-β/Smad signaling pathways. Our research have confirmed the potential of PSS as a candidate drug for improving myocardial hypertrophy, providing an early intervention strategy to delay the progression of cardiac hypertrophy to heart failure.