Red blood cells as an efficient in vitro model for evaluating the efficacy of metallic nanoparticles.

Blood and the linings of blood vessels may be regarded as a fifth tissue type. The human body contains 5 × 109 red blood cells (RBCs) per ml, a total of 2.5 × 1013 cells in the 5 l of blood present in the body. With an average lifetime of 125 days, human RBCs are destroyed by leukocytes in the spleen and liver. Nowadays red blood cells are extensively used to study various metabolic functions. Nanoparticles (NP) are being widely accepted for drug delivery system. This review summarizes the red blood cells, NPs and their characteristics on the basis of the RBC components along with drug delivery systems through RBCs. Further, we also discussed that how erythrocytes can be used as an efficient in vitro model for evaluating the efficacy of various nanocomposite materials.