Review article
Therapeutic possibilities of drugs encapsulated in erythrocytes

https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-5173(84)90017-6Get rights and content

Abstract

The use of erythrocytes as carriers for drugs has been reviewed. Methods for encapsulating drugs into erythrocytes has been discussed with experimental detail. Rigorous loading conditions used in the past have resulted in the formation of vesicles with poor survival times in vivo. More recent loading conditions such as preswelling or dialysis techniques have largely overcome survival problems in vivo. Under clinical conditions erythrocytes have been loaded with drugs by employing standard blood bags as an encapsulating vessel. Electrical and antibiotic loading methods have also been discussed. The limited use of drug- and enzyme-loaded erythrocytes under clinical conditions have shown that resealed erythrocytes can be safely infused into humans. In animal experiments the successful use of encapsulated materials largely depended on the integrity of the cells in vivo. Mild loading conditions have given excellent results in experiments involving the depletion of endogenous substrates by encapsulated enzymes and in where experiments where the circulating cells have acted as a slow release system for drugs. Reference has been made to other slow delivery systems such as liposomes or synthetic micro-vesicles and nano-particles.

The possibility of fusing erythrocytes with other cells with the subsequent transfer of encapsulated material by Sendai virus or polyethylene glycol is also discussed (39 references).

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