Faster Liposome Preparation Using Electrodialysis

Liposomes are self-enclosed spherical lipid bilayer membranes that present a great potential for drug delivery. Liposome preparation and loading may be achieved by several methods including extrusion and sonication, all of which are rather time consuming. To alleviate this problem, we propose using electrodialysis as a fast technique for liposome preparation. Our approach is based on the fast separation of charged molecules upon their movement when exposed to electric fields. We subjected homogeneous solutions of lipids and ionic detergents to electrodialysis. The lack of amphiphilic detergents in the mixture forced the lipids to self-assemble into liposomes, incorporating dye molecules present in the initial mixture. The obtained liposomes were characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering, microscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Our results show that the procedure may also be applied for preparation of liposomes capable of evading the immune system, therefore presenting potential for use as drug carriers and in vivo applications.