Fig. 6. Assessment of the hemolytic properties of ENCC.

(a) Optical images of blood exposed to varying concentrations of ENCC compared with the negative control (NC, PEG) and positive control (PC, Triton X-100). The disruption of RBC is seen as stable red color in the supernatant post-centrifugation. Up to 7 mg mL⁻¹ of ENCC does not have any significant effect on the color of supernatant attesting to the integrity of RBCs. (b) Quantification of hemolysis percentage via measuring the absorbance of supernatant. While the positive control vigorously disrupts the RBCs resulting in >95% hemolysis, up to 7 mg mL⁻¹ of ENCC yields less than 4% hemolysis, which is below the accepted threshold (5%).