ENCAPSULATED ERYTHROCYTES FOR NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY SYSYTEM

ABSTRACT The current Pharmaceutical scenario focuses only on the development of targeted and sustained drug delivery systems to achieve required therapeutic concentration with less amount of dose. Among the various carriers used for targeting of the drugs to various body tissues, the encapsulated erythrocytes meet several criteria desirable in clinical applications, among the most important being biocompatibility as a carrier and its degradation products. Encapsulated erythrocytes permit delayed or controlled kinetics of release, increase specificity of delivery to the target cells or organs and use of novel routes of drug into cells. Using this technique with a drug present in the extra cellular solution, it is possible to entrap up to 40% of the drug inside the resealed erythrocytes. A variety of bio-macromolecules ranging from 5000 to 600,000 Da can be entrapped into in erythrocytes. In this review we discuss about Encapsulation of erythrocytes, various techniques of drug loading such as hypo-osmotic-lysis, Chemical perturbation of the membrane, Electro-insertion, Entrapment by endocytosis etc. and it’s applications in various clinical purposes