Native blood components

Native blood components is a collective term referring to the naturally occurring cellular and non-cellular elements of whole blood, including red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes), platelets (thrombocytes), and plasma proteins such as albumin and coagulation factors [1, 13]. These components are essential for fundamental physiological processes, including oxygen and nutrient transport, immune defense, and the maintenance of hemostasis through the coagulation cascade [13, 16]. While the term does not describe a single molecular target, many therapeutic strategies are designed to modulate specific blood components to treat conditions such as anemia, thrombosis, or immune deficiencies [4, 11]. Additionally, the interaction of drugs and nanocarriers with native blood components is a critical factor in determining the stability, pharmacokinetics, and biocompatibility of medical treatments, as plasma proteins can influence drug distribution and integrity [1, 9, 14]. Dysfunction or depletion of these components is central to a wide range of hematological and systemic diseases, making their preservation or therapeutic modulation a primary goal in clinical medicine [16, 17].

Other names

Blood componentsBlood constituentsBlood elementsWhole blood componentsNative plasma components

Pharmacological agents do not target native blood components as a single entity; instead, they interact with specific molecular constituents within the blood, such as coagulation factors (e.g., Factor Xa, Thrombin), cell surface receptors (e.g., EPO receptor), or enzymes (e.g., COX-1), to modulate the production, activity, or stability of these components [4, 7, 11].