摘要
<p>Pneumonia stands as the leading infectious cause of childhood mortality annually, under-<br role="presentation" />scoring its significant impact on pediatric health. Although dexamethasone (DXMS) is effective for<br role="presentation" />treating pulmonary inflammation, its therapeutic potential is compromised by systemic side effects<br role="presentation" />and suboptimal carrier systems. To address this issue, the current study introduces solid lipid na-<br role="presentation" />noparticles encapsulating hydrophobic dexamethasone palmitate (DXMS-Pal-SLNs) as an anti-in-<br role="presentation" />flammatory nanoplatform to treat pneumonia. The specialized nanoparticle formulation is charac-<br role="presentation" />terized by high drug loading efficiency, low drug leakage and excellent colloidal stability in partic-<br role="presentation" />ular during nebulization and is proficiently designed to target alveolar macrophages in deep lung<br role="presentation" />regions via local delivery with the nebulization administration. In vitro analyses revealed substan-<br role="presentation" />tial reductions in the secretions of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 from alveolar macro-<br role="presentation" />phages, highlighting the potential efficacy of DXMS-Pal-SLNs in alleviating pneumonia-related in-<br role="presentation" />flammation. Similarly, in vivo experiments showed a significant reduction in the levels of these cy-<br role="presentation" />tokines in the lungs of mice experiencing lipopolysaccharide-induced pulmonary inflammation af-<br role="presentation" />ter the administration of DXMS-Pal-SLNs via nebulization. Furthermore, the study demonstrated<br role="presentation" />that DXMS-Pal-SLNs effectively control acute infections without causing pulmonary infiltration or<br role="presentation" />excessive recruitment of immunocytes in lung tissues. These findings highlight the potential of neb-<br role="presentation" />ulized DXMS-Pal-SLNs as a promising therapeutic strategy for mitigating pneumonia-related in-<br role="presentation" />flammations.</p>