Probing influence of nanocarrier structure on red blood cell membrane perturbations

ABSTRACT

In the present work, we have attempted to investigate influence of nanocarrier composition and structure on the RBC membrane perturbations which delivers nanocarrier contents inside the cell. For this purpose, blank liposomes (LIP), lipid nanoparticles (NAN) and cubosomes (CUB) were prepared using ethanol injection method. The interaction of nanocarriers with RBC membrane was investigated using confocal microscopy and small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). ‘d’ value obtained from SAXS data was plotted against time to investigate rate of fusion of nanocarriers with RBC membrane. Amongst all the nanocarriers tested, NAN and CUB were found to be superior over conventional LIP in terms of fusion with RBC membrane. Additionally, the study showed that use of Glyceryl monooleate in the preparation of nanocarriers will help in faster drug/gene delivery inside the RBCs. Thus NAN and CUB can act as better nanocarriers for guest molecules when such molecules are to be delivered inside RBCs.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Red blood cells (RBCs)
• nanoparticles
• liposomes
• cubosomes
• fusogenecity
• SAXS

Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to Mr. Prasad Gosavi, Technical Manager, Anton Paar India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai for generous help in SAXS analysis and data interpretation of the samples.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).