Fig. 3

Diagram of the potential usage of nanoparticles for splenic targeting. Coating nanoparticles with red blood cell-like membrane may be helpful for increasing nanoparticle uptake by splenic leukocytes. These nanoparticles should then be conjugated with drugs targeting specific signaling pathway activated in spleen. a Drug-conjugated nanoparticles may then be ingested by macrophages within the red pulp or marginal zone upon circulation and distribution into the spleen. b These drugs then inhibit pathologically activated signals, such as mTOR signaling, to reverse liver-injury induced splenic perturbations. WP white pulp, MZ marginal zone, RP red pulp. The immunofluorescence image is from an article by Chen K-H and the schematic diagram of mTOR signaling is from a review paper by Sukhbaatar et al. [82, 91]