Hemocompatibility of Albumin Nanoparticles as a Drug Delivery System—An &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;in Vitro&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; Study

Mohamed A Elblbesy

doi:10.4236/jbnb.2016.72008

Abstract

As a major plasma protein, albumin has a distinct advantage compared with other materials for nanoparticle preparation. It is cheap and easily available. The present work aimed to prepare bovine albumin nanoparticles (BAN) with a simple coacervation method and to test their hemocompatibility. The albumin nanoparticles obtained by this method had a range of sizes from 250 - 350 nm at pH = 7.4. In vitro hemocompatibility tests of the prepared (BAN) were conducted after the incubation of BAN with normal blood for 2 h at 37&degC. Hemocompatibility tests showed that the reduction in the hemolysis percentage of erythrocytes was due to exposure to BAN. The other blood parameters such as hemoglobin (HG), mean corpuscle hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscle hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were in the normal range. The prothrombin time (PT) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) decreased as the concentration of BAN increased. The results obtained in this study demonstrated that BAN could be used safely and without abnormal effect when interacted with blood through many biomedical applications.

Highlights

Nanoparticles, liposomes, and micelles have received a considerable amount of attention by researchers as drug delivery carriers for site-specific drug delivery
Hemolysis Assay Anti-coagulated blood incubated with bovine albumin nanoparticles (BAN) was centrifuged and washed with phosphate buffer saline (PBS) five times in a centrifuge according to the procedure reported in literature [16] [17] to completely remove plasma and obtain erythrocytes
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) Blood samples collected on sodium citrate and incubated with BAN with different concentrations were checked for clots using two applicator sticks

Summary

Introduction

Nanoparticles, liposomes, and micelles have received a considerable amount of attention by researchers as drug delivery carriers for site-specific drug delivery. It is stable in the pH range of 4 - 9, soluble in 40% ethanol, and it can be heated at 60 ̊C for up to 10 h without deleterious effects These properties, as well as its preferential uptake in tumors and inflamed tissue, widespread availability, biodegradability, and lack of toxicity and immunogenicity make serum albumin an ideal candidate for drug delivery. Recent applications of serum albumin (human and bovine) have demonstrated certain of its advantages as a natural and biocompatible and biodegradable carrier for drugs [5] [6]. Albumin nanoparticles can be prepared under soft conditions by coacervation, controlled desolvation or emulsion formation They have a smaller size (50 to 300 nm) compared with microparticles and, in general, they have better controlled release properties than liposomes which may improve patient acceptance and compliance. To evaluate the interaction between synthetic BAN and human blood, hemocompatibility tests were performed in vitro

Chemicals

Results and Discussion

Conclusion