Amylopectin from maize-derived carbonized polymer dots as a novel high-efficiency antioxidant for periodontitis treatment

Periodontitis is a common chronic inflammatory disease and the local accumulation of excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) could cause oxidative damage to periodontal tissues. Thus, antioxidative therapy is considered to be the promising strategy for treating periodontitis. However, highly efficient antioxidant activity of biomaterials with low cost, ease of synthesis, and good biocompatibility are still highly desired. Here amylopectin from maize (AFM)-derived carbonized polymer dots (AFM-CPDs-240) with excellent antioxidant activity, good water solubility and biosafty is parepared. Detailed characterizations identify that the antioxidant properties and formation mechanism of AFM-CPDs, and antioxidant activity of AFM-CPDs-240 is much higher than Trolox (a hydrophilic derivative of vitamin E) due to the large contents of conjugated C=C and C=O. Besides, in vitro and in vivo experiments suggest AFM-CPDs-240 could effectively alleviate inflammatory response, inhibit alveolar bone resorption and promote bone formation, showing excellent therapeutic effects on periodontitis. Moreover, the label-free proteomics and western blot results demonstrate AFM-CPDs-240 could accelerate the recovery of periodontitis by blocking TLR4/NF-κB (Toll-like receptor 4/ nuclear factor-kappa B) signaling pathway. This study will develop a simple approach to design highly efficient antioxidant carbon dots with good biocompatibility, and also provide a new promising nanoplatform for treating diseases associated with ROS.