Design Considerations and Assays for Hemocompatibility of FDA-Approved Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles have numerous biomedical applications including, but not limited to, targeted drug delivery, diagnostic imaging, sensors, and implants for a wide range of diseases including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and tuberculosis. Although the mode of delivery of the nanoparticles depends on the application and the disease, the nanoparticles are often in immediate contact with the systemic circulation either because of intravenous administration or their ability to enter the bloodstream with relative ease or their longer survival time in circulation. Once in circulation, the nanoparticles may elicit unintended hemostatic and inflammatory responses, and hence the design of nanoparticles for therapeutic applications should take broad hemocompatibility concerns into consideration. In this review, we present the principles underlying the structural and functional design of various classes of nanoparticles that are currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, categorize these particles based on their interactions with cardiovascular tissues and ensuing adverse events, and also describe various in vitro assays that may be used evaluate their hemocompatibility.