Gardeniae Fructus derived natural small molecule-based carbon dots promoting activation and aggregation of platelets to accelerate hemostasis

Effective and prompt hemostasis poses a formidable challenge currently, especially for tissue injury-induced endogenous hemorrhage. Carbonic herbs originated from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been historically utilized in the treatment of endogenous hemorrhages, but the underlying active ingredients and hemostatic mechanism still remain largely unexplored. Study on carbon dots (CDs) prepared by main small molecule components from TCM is of great significance for unravelling the mechanism of action of carbonic herbs. Gardeniae Fructus is a classical TCM which widely used for hemostasis after carbonization. Given that geniposide is one of main small molecule components of it, geniposide-carbon dots (Gen-CDs) are developed using modified hydrothermal method and considered as the key pharmacological agents responsible for the hemostatic efficacy of carbonized Gardeniae Fructus (CGF). Undergoing repeated dehydration and condensation, Gen-CDs having abundant functional groups were obtained from geniposide, exhibiting superior water solubility and bioavailability. The mouse liver injury model, tail amputation model, and rat blood-heat hemorrhage (BHH) syndrome model were all employed to confirm the excellent hemostatic activity of Gen-CDs on exogenous hemorrhage. The in vitro and vivo experiments had indicated that Gen-CDs could effectively promote platelet activation and aggregation. Overall, the successful preparation of Gen-CDs with effective and prompt hemostatic performance could provide a new perspective for elucidating the substantial basis and mechanism of carbonic herbs.