Supramolecular Hunter Stationed on Red Blood Cells for Detoxification Based on Specific Molecular Recognition

Abstract

Efficient removal of deadly toxicants by blood purification remains predominant in poisoning treatment. Current strategies mainly rely on absorptive scavengers that normally have no selectivity to the adsorbates, which could result poor clinical outcomes to certain toxic species due to the passivity and inaccuracy of the detoxification procedure. Herein, a positive, accurate, and customized detoxification strategy was proposed. Based on the sophisticated molecule design and thoughtful structure analysis of the aimed toxicant paraquat, a supramolecular hunter stationed on red blood cells (RBC) is developed to continuously track paraquat in the blood. In this construct, a Janus dendrimer amphiphile (JDA) molecule was synthesized with the aim of facilely anchoring onto RBC membranes while bridging to load the antidote WP6 that could precisely recognize paraquat. <i>In vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> results demonstrate the effective toxicant-hunting and harm-neutralizing capability of the system through a guest-exchange reaction. This strategy provides a different insight in designing scavengers that can actively, precisely, and continuously hunt toxicants through a supramolecular approach.