[The biological effects of liposome interactions with the endoplasmic reticulum]

Liposome research is a thriving field at the confluence of biophysics, cell biology and medicine. The principal medical application of liposomes is based on their potential to act as carriers for a broad spectrum of drugs and other agents, including antigens with or without immunomodulators in vaccination. Treatment of peritoneal macrophages of rats with small unilamellar vesicles of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC SUV) potentiated their activation for tumor cell lysis by endotoxins. The measurement of the fluorescence anisotropy of diphenylhexatriene showed a phase transition. No phase transition was observed in the rough endoplasmic reticulum membranes of macrophages either treated or not treated with cholesterol/DPPC SUV. The synergistic effect of DPPC SUV on the tumoricidal activity of macrophages induced by endotoxins appears to be correlated with the changes in the properties of the rough endoplasmic reticulum membranes. Both effects were transient; they had the same kinetics of induction and reversion.