How do Hydrophilic Surfaces Determine Liposome Fate in Vivo?

Abstract

Changing liposome physical, properties by designing vesicles with a hydrophilic/ steric barrier at the liposome surface has resulted in altered pharmacokinetics of these liposomes leading to increased blood levels of drug-carrying liposomes and reduced uptake by the RES. This discovery opens up new therapeutic opportunities for liposome-based drug delivery using hydrophilic coatings. Unravelling the mechanism of action of such coatings is an exciting challenge that will facilitate optimization of liposome surfaces for specific drug delivery applications. This article puts forward a series of assumptions and hypotheses to characterize the way hydrophilic coatings extend the plasma half-life of sterically - coated liposomes, to begin to explain how a steric barrier at the surface of liposomes may act. These speculations are examined in the light of current experimental evidence including that from non-liposome systems, and a model for particle removal from the circulation is proposed.IntroductionSince the days when liposomes were first conceived for drug delivery, ways have been sought to increase the length of time injected vesicles circulate in the body (1). In the mid-eighties, manipulation of the liposomal lipid composition increased the amount of time liposomes remained in the circulation for a well-defined but relatively limited design of