Diminution of phagocytosed perfluorocarbon emulsions using perfluoroalkylated polyethylene glycol surfactant

Perfluorocarbon emulsions have been considered as potential blood substitut es for years due to their high capacity of dissolving respiratory oxygen an d carbon dioxide. However, they have been reported to associate with side e ffects (e.g., flu-like syndrome) after being injected into animal's bloodst ream. The cause of these side effects is related to the phagocytosis of per fluorocarbon emulsions by cells (e.g., macrophages). Inspired by the approa ch of using polyethylene glycol (PEG) to camouflage liposomes, we synthesiz ed a perfluoroalkylated PEG (R-F-PEG) surfactant to provide steric hindranc e for decreasing phagocytosis of perfluorocarbon emulsions. The R-F-PEG sur factant along with Pluronic F-68 and egg yolk phospholipid mediated perfluo rocarbon emulsions were incubated individually with J774A.1 macrophages to examine the degree of phagocytosis. F-19 NMR studies were used to quantitat ively determine the amount of perfluorocarbon emulsions phagocytosed by mac rophages. Results showed that the degree of phagocytosis was diminished to a large extent for perfluorocarbon microparticles emulsified by the R-F-PEG surfactant. (C) 2001 Academic Press.