Study of erythrocytes as a novel drug carrier for the delivery of artemether

Resealed erythrocytes have been explored in various dimensions of drug delivery, owing to their high biocompatibility and inability to initiate immune response. The present research was designed to evaluate the drug delivery potential of erythrocytes by loading a hydrophobic anti-malarial drug, Artemether. Three different loading techniques were applied to achieve maximum optimized drug loading. A HPLC method was validated for drug quantification in erythrocytes. The relatively high loading was achieved using hypotonic treatment was 31.39% as compared to other two methods. These, drug loaded erythrocytes were characterized for membrane integrity via ESR showing higher ESR values for drug loaded cells as compared to normal cells. Moreover, microscopic evaluation was done to observe morphological changes in erythrocytes after successful loading which showed swollen cells with slight rough surface as compared to smooth surface of normal cells. Drug release was studied for 8 h which showed more than 80% release within 3-7 h from erythrocytes treated with different hypotonic methods. Overall, the study revealed a potential application of erythrocytes in delivery of hydrophobic drugs using hypotonic treatment as compared to other methods.

重封红细胞（Resealed erythrocytes）因具备优异的生物相容性且不会引发免疫应答，已在药物递送的多个研究方向中得到广泛探索。本研究旨在通过载入疏水性抗疟药物蒿甲醚（Artemether），评估红细胞的药物递送潜力。研究采用三种不同的载入方法以实现最优药物载入量，并验证了高效液相色谱（HPLC）法用于红细胞内药物定量的可行性。与另外两种方法相比，低渗处理法实现的药物载入率相对最高，可达31.39%。研究通过电子自旋共振（ESR）表征载药红细胞的膜完整性，结果显示载药红细胞的ESR信号值高于正常红细胞。此外，本研究通过显微镜观察成功载入药物后红细胞的形态变化，结果显示相较于表面光滑的正常红细胞，载药红细胞呈现肿胀状态且表面略带粗糙感。药物释放实验时长为8小时，结果显示经不同低渗处理法制备的载药红细胞在3至7小时内的药物累积释放量超过80%。综上，本研究证实相较于其他方法，采用低渗处理法的红细胞在递送疏水性药物方面具有可观的应用潜力。