Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have become a serious threat to human life and health. Though many drugs acting via different mechanism of action are available in the market as conventional formulations for the treatment of CVDs, they are still far from satisfactory due to poor water solubility, low biological efficacy, non-targeting, and drug resistance. Nano-drug delivery systems (NDDSs) provide a new drug delivery method for the treatment of CVDs with the development of nanotechnology, demonstrating great advantages in solving the above problems. Nevertheless, there are some problems about NDDSs need to be addressed, such as cytotoxicity. In this review, the types and targeting strategies of NDDSs were summarized, and the new research progress in the diagnosis and therapy of CVDs in recent years was reviewed. Future prospective for nano-carriers in drug delivery for CVDs includes gene therapy, in order to provide more ideas for the improvement of cardiovascular drugs. In addition, its safety was also discussed in the review.

Hydrogels have been widely studied in various biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering, cell culture, immunotherapy and vaccines, and drug delivery.

MicroRNAs are small regulatory noncoding RNAs that regulate various biological processes associated with neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and viral infection. MiRNA-based therapeutics have broad applications including cancer immunotherapy, genomic engineering and protein replacement therapy. Until now, a variety of materials have been proved to be promising as non-viral nanocarriers for intracellular delivery of miRNAs, such as polymeric nanoparticles, lipid nanocapsules, and inorganic nanoparticles, etc. In this review, we will present the strategies for intracellular miRNA delivery, and specially focus on rationally designed routes, their mechanisms of action, and potential therapeutics used in the host cells or in vivo studies. Futhermore, we will also make a conclusion based on the current development. The perspective on the new generation of delivery systems toward the emerging area of miRNA-based therapeutics will be discussed as well.

The flavonoids (POFs) from the leaves of Platycladus orientalis (L.) Franco were purified using six different macroporous adsorption resins including polar resins NKA-9 and ADS-F8, semi-polar resins ADS-17 and AB-8, and non-polar resins D101 and ADS-5. Among semi-polar resins, AB-8 demonstrated the best adsorption and desorption capacities with an adsorption ratio of 86% and a desorption ratio of 52%. According to the Simultaneous Thermogravimetry-Differential Scanning Calorimetry (STA/TG-DSC) analysis, POFs showed three thermally decomposed temperatures (347.6 °C, 437.5 °C and 494.8 °C). The main flavonoids in POFs were identified as esculin, amentoflavone, glabridin, and afromosin. Meanwhile, POFs in the dosage range of 25 to 400 μg mL⁻¹ showed a significant anti-inflammatory effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cells, which could inhibit the secretion of NO, IL-6, and TNF-α through the inhibition of inflammatory-related gene expressions.