Nano-liposomes of lycopene reduces ischemic brain damage in rodents by regulating iron metabolism

In order to discover new drug delivery approaches and to understand the mechanism of iron overload in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R), we aimed to investigate the effects of lycopene (LYC) in the form of nano-liposomes (L-LYC) on iron-regulating proteins and ischemic brain injury. We found that L-LYC significantly increased the LYC content in serum and the brain. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats treated with L-LYC for 14 days were subjected to 60 min of ischemia and 7 days of reperfusion. The effects of L-LYC were evaluated by infarction volume, neurological score, neuronal apoptosis, and markers for oxidative stress. Levels of iron-regulating protein such as hepcidin and ferroportin (FPN1) were examined. L-LYC reduced cerebral infarction and improved neurobehavior of the rats more efficiently than “naked” LYC. L-LYC reduced protein levels of oxidases (e.g. nitric oxide synthase and NOX2), increased the level of Bcl-2, lowered caspase-3, and suppressed apoptosis through inhibiting MAPK-JNK. Furthermore, L-LYC suppressed hepcidin-mediated decrease in FPN1, a sole iron exporter, and normalized the levels of iron. We further demonstrated that the effect of L-LYC on hepcidin expression might result from its ability to attenuate the release of the inflammatory factor interleukin 6. The results demonstrated that nano-liposomal encapsulation significantly improved LYC efficacy in providing neuronal protection against I/R injury. The data also revealed a novel mechanism of L-LYC's neuroprotection by regulating iron metabolism in an ischemic brain.