Impact of Nanocapsules on Red Blood Cells Interplay Jointly Assessed by Optical Tweezers and Microscopy.

Tatiana Avsievich,Seppo Vainio,Ilya Skovorodkin,Yana Tarakanchikova,Ruixue Zhu,Alexander Bykov,Alexey Popov,Igor Meglinski

doi:10.3390/mi11010019

Abstract

In the framework of novel medical paradigm the red blood cells (RBCs) have a great potential to be used as drug delivery carriers. This approach requires an ultimate understanding of the peculiarities of mutual interaction of RBC influenced by nano-materials composed the drugs. Optical tweezers (OT) is widely used to explore mechanisms of cells’ interaction with the ability to trap non-invasively, manipulate and displace living cells with a notably high accuracy. In the current study, the mutual interaction of RBC with polymeric nano-capsules (NCs) is investigated utilizing a two-channel OT system. The obtained results suggest that, in the presence of NCs, the RBC aggregation in plasma satisfies the ‘cross-bridges’ model. Complementarily, the allocation of NCs on the RBC membrane was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while for assessment of NCs-induced morphological changes the tests with the human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) was performed. The combined application of OT and advanced microscopy approaches brings new insights into the conception of direct observation of cells interaction influenced by NCs for the estimation of possible cytotoxic effects.

Highlights

Nowadays, there are numerous delivery systems such as: natural biological vehicles (such as bacteria and viruses [1,2], various cell types including red blood cells (RBCs) [3,4,5], immune cells [6,7], stem cells [8,9,10,11] and manufactured carriers
The present study focuses on the evaluation of RBC response to NCs in terms of RBC aggregation in autologous plasma using Optical tweezers (OT), complemented with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of RBCs
OT measurements of RBC were performed in vitro in autologous blood plasma mimicking in vivo conditions

Summary

Introduction

There are numerous delivery systems such as: natural biological vehicles (such as bacteria and viruses [1,2], various cell types including red blood cells (RBCs) [3,4,5], immune cells [6,7], stem cells [8,9,10,11] and manufactured carriers (liposomes [12], micelle [13], polymeric capsules [14,15,16,17], polymeric complexes [18,19,20,21]). Effective distribution of drugs in target tissues can be achieved by active delivery methods that are potentially much more beneficial than passive accumulation. This is why design of new drug carriers is one of the fastest developing directions of research in the nanomedicine area. This allows, in particular, creating a controllable photosensitizer delivery system for cell applications [33,34,35]. Increasing use of nanomaterials, including nanoparticles and NCs in household, medical and industrial products requires a careful assessment of possible consequences [36,37,38]

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Conclusion