Two Coordination Polymers Based on Co(II) Ions: Application Value in the Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy via the Regulation of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Release

Abstract

In this work, two coordination polymers (CPs) based on Co(II) ions, namely, [CoL] (1) and [Co(HL)2(bpe)1.5] (2) (H2L: naphthalene-1,2-dicarboxylic acid, where L and HL are the fully and partially deprotonated forms of H2L, respectively, and bpe denotes 1,2-di[pyridin-4-yl]ethane), were prepared successfully and characterized systemically through PXRD, X-ray single-crystal diffraction analysis, IR spectroscopy, and EA. The application of the fresh CPs in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy was investigated, and its associated mechanism was analyzed. First, the activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway was checked through real time RT-PCR. The content of VEGF that was released into plasma was examined through ELISA. Besides, the cytotoxicity of the CPs on the retinal endothelial cells was measured with CCK-8 assay.