Kupffer cell depletion by liposome-delivered drugs: comparative activity of intracellular clodronate, propamidine, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.

Macrophages such as Kupffer cells in the liver are multifunctional cells. They are involved in host defense mechanisms and have a regulatory role in many biomedical processes. Their selective depletion, using liposome-encapsulated drugs, forms a widely accepted approach to studying their functional aspects in vivo. We have compared the Kupffer cell-depleting activities of liposome-encapsulated clodronate, propamidine, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) for this purpose. These molecules represent the drug families of bisphosphonates, diamidines (or aromatic polyamidines), and polyaminopolycarboxylic acid-chelating agents, respectively. The Kupffer cell-depleting activity of the liposome-encapsulated antimicrobial drug propamidine exceeded that of clodronate by about a factor of 10. EDTA appeared to be inefficacious for depletion of Kupffer cells in the rat.