OBJECTIVE The greatest challenge in chemotherapy of ischemic stroke is the construction a suitable delivery system to overcome the poor physicochemical properties of drug and its low permeability across the blood brain barrier(BBB).METHODS In the present study,dendrimer,polyamidoamine(PAMAM),was synthesized as the nano-drug carriers.Angiopep-2,which has been proved excellent ability to cross the BBB,was exploited as the targeting ligand to conjugate PAMAM via bifunctional polyethylene glycol(PEG).Then scutellarin(STA)was encapsulated into the functionalized nanoparticles(NPs)to formulate Angiopep-2 modified STA-loaded PEG-PAMAM NPs.Ischemic stroke model was established to evaluate the treatment efficacy and protective mechanism of Angiopep-2-STA-PEG-PAMAM NPs.RESULTS The pharmacokinetics and biodistribu-tion demonstrated that Angiopep-2-STA-PEG-PAMAM NPs exhibited significantly higher plasma concentration from 1 h to 10 h after intravenous administration and improve accumulation in brain(4.7-fold)compared with STA solution.Moreover,prolonged elimination half-life(4.8-fold)and lower clearance(3.4-fold)were observed.The brain uptake study of 6-coumarin confirmed that Angiopep-2-PEG-PAMAM NPs possessed better brain targeting efficacy(3.2-fold)than PEG-PAMAM NPs.Angiopep-2-STA-PEG-PAMAM NPs obviously ameliorated infarct volume,neurological deficit,histopathological severity and neuronal apoptosis.In addition,Angiopep-2-STA-PEG-PAMAM NPs markedly inhibited the calcium content and the levels of IL-12p40,IL-13,IL-17 and IL-23.Furthermore,Angiopep-2-STA-PEG-PAMAM NPs significantly decreased the m RNA and protein expressions of HMGB1,TLR2,TLR4,TLR5,My D88,TRIF,TRAM,IRAK-4,TRAF6,IкBα,IKKβand NF-кBp65.CONCLUSION The results suggested that Angiopep-2modified scutellarin-loaded PEG-PAMAM nanocarriers possessed remarkable neuroprotective effects on ischemic stroke through modulation of inflammatory cascades and HMGB1/TLRs/MyD 88-induced NF-κB activation pathways. OBJECTIVE The greatest challenge in chemotherapy of ischemic stroke is the construction a suitable delivery system to overcome the poor physicochemical properties of drug and its low permeability across the blood brain barrier (BBB). METHODS In the present study, dendrimer, polyamidoamine (PAMAM), was synthesized as the nano-drug carriers. Angiopep-2, which has been proved excellent ability to cross the BBB, was exploited as the targeting ligand to conjugate PAMAM via bifunctional polyethylene glycol (PEG). Phenotype scandllarin (STA) was encapsulated into the functionalized nanoparticles (NPs) to formulate Angiopep-2 modified STA-loaded PEG-PAMAM NPs.Ischemic stroke model was established to evaluate the treatment efficacy and protective mechanism of Angiopep-2-STA-PEG- PAMAM NPs.RESULTS The pharmacokinetics and biodistribu- demonstrate that that Angiopep-2-STA-PEG-PAMAM NPs exhibits significantly higher plasma concentration from 1 h to 10 h after intravenous administration and improve accumulation in bra prolonged elimination half-life (4.8-fold) and lower clearance (3.4-fold) were observed. The brain uptake study of 6-coumarin confirmed that Angiopep-2-PEG- PAMAM NPs possessed better brain targeting efficacy (3.2-fold) than PEG-PAMAM NPs. Angiopep-2-STA-PEG-PAMAM NPs significantly ameliorated infarct volume, neurological deficit, histopathological severity and neuronal apoptosis. -PEG-PAMAM NPs markedly inhibited the calcium content and the levels of IL-12p40, IL-13, IL-17 and IL-23.Furthermore, Angiopep-2-STA-PEG-PAMAM NPs significantly decreased the m RNA and protein expressions of HMGB1, TLR2, TLR4, TLR5, My D88, TRIF, TRAM, IRAK-4, TRAF6, IкBα, IKKβand NF-κBp65.CONCLUSION The results suggested that Angiopep-2 modified scutellarin-loaded PEG-PAMAM nanocarriers possessed remarkable neuroprotective effects on ischemic stroke through modulation of inflammatory cascades and HMGB1 / TLRs / MyD88-induced NF-κB activation pathways.