Hemocompatibility evaluation for peptide fragments of human serum albumin cleaved by cyanogens bromide.

We have previously demonstrated that peptide fragments of human serum albumin can be developed into potential renal targeting drug carriers. However, the interactions of these peptide fragments with red blood cells and plasma components are not evaluated well and there is yet no report on the evaluation of the hemocompatibility of peptide fragments. In this study, three kinds of peptide fragments were prepared and identified by amino acid analysis, and the blood compatibility of the peptide fragments was investigated by measuring blood coagulation, platelet and complement activation and hemolysis activity. Results indicated that all the peptide fragments prepared were highly hemocompatible without causing any clot formation, red blood cell aggregation or immune response. In addition, data from the cytotoxicity assay using HeLa cells and Madin-Darby canine kidney cells suggested that these peptide fragments do not induce toxicity towards either cell lines at concentrations up to 5 mg/ml. Therefore, it can be concluded that peptide fragments exhibit good hemocompatibility with no unwanted effect on the viability of renal cells, preliminarily demonstrating that it is safe to use peptide fragments as renal targeting drug carriers.