Hydrogel Nanoparticles Enable Nucleation Barrier Regulation and Ion Anchoring as an Alternative Pathway for Monosodium Urate Monohydrate Crystallization Control.

Gout flare-up, commonly resulting from monosodium urate monohydrate (MSUM) crystallization, has led to painful inflammatory arthritis among hundreds of millions of people. Herein, a kind of hydrogel nanoparticles (HNPs) with specific properties was developed, aimed at providing a promising pathway for MSUM crystallization control. The experimental and molecular dynamics simulation results synchronously indicate that the fabricated HNPs achieve efficient inhibition of MSUM crystallization governed by the mechanism of "host-guest interaction" even under very low-dose administration.