Red blood cell membrane-camouflaged prednisolone acetate-loaded PLGA nanoparticles for kidney-targeted drug delivery

The lack of renal targeting and adverse drug reactions are key issues in the treatment of glomerulonephritis. Here, we present the development of red blood cell membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles (RBC-PA-NPs) as a targeted drug delivery system for delivering prednisolone acetate (PA) to the glomerular mesangium. We successfully coated erythrocyte membranes onto PA-loaded PLGA nanoparticles (PA-NPs), and the resultant RBC-PA-NPs exhibited a well-defined core-shell structure with a favourable particle size of 104.20 ± 0.35 nm and a surface charge of −15.07 ± 2.13 mV. Toxicity was evaluated by cell viability assays using rat glomerular mesangial cells, and the RBC-PA-NPs showed good biocompatibility. RBC-PA-NPs exhibited reduced uptake by RAW 264.7 cells and greater uptake by rat glomerular mesangial cell lines than PA and PA-NPs. Biodistribution studies revealed that RBC-Cy5-NPs displayed the highest fluorescence intensity in renal tissue and effectively accumulated in the kidney, indicating their targeting effect. In summary, RBC-PA-NPs are a potential system for the kidney-targeted delivery of traditional drugs to improve their efficacy.