Abstract
Exposure of erythrocytes to hypotonic lysis creates pores in the cell membrane, through which pravastatin can enter and become trapped, after resealing them with a suitable buffer. We investigated the effects of tonicity, incubation time and drug concentration on drug loading into erythrocytes. Furthermore, we investigate the effects of pravastatin on erythrocyte oxidative stress markers and osmotic fragility behavior. Encapsulation was achieved using buffer solutions of different tonicities (0.5, 0.6 and 0.7% NaCl) and different drug concentrations (2, 4, 8 and 10 mg/mL) for a range of incubation times (15, 30, 60 and 120 min). The results demonstrated that controlled hypotonic lysis could entrap pravastatin in human erythrocytes, with acceptable loading parameters. The highest loading (34%) was achieved at 0.6% NaCl and 10 mg/mL pravastatin for 60 min incubation. At this pravastatin concentration, oxidative stress markers were similar to those seen in controls, and fragility and hematological parameters were unaffected in drug-loaded erythrocytes. These results indicate that the loading process and pravastatin concentration had no deleterious effects on the structure of pravastatin-loaded erythrocytes, suggesting that they may therefore have a similar life span to normal cells. Pravastatin-loaded erythrocytes may thus provide an effective extended-release-delivery system for pravastatin.