Physicochemical properties of liposomes incorporating hydrochlorothiazide and chlorothiazide

In an attempt to study the effect of hydrophobic drugs on liposome properties, multilamellar liposomes (MLV) consisting of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and incorporating chlorothiazide (CT) or hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), were prepared and characterized. Liposome size, surface charge, stability (in buffer, plasma and sodium cholate) and calcium-induced aggregation were studied for drug-incorporating liposomes and empty liposomes for comparison. Results show that drug incorporation affects liposome size, z-potential and stability in presence of buffer and plasma proteins. Indeed, drug-incorporating liposomes are slightly larger and have a negative surface charge, which increases with the amount of drug incorporated in the lipid membrane. The membrane integrity of drug incorporating liposomes (in absence and presence of plasma proteins) is significantly higher when compared with that of empty liposomes (for both drugs studied). On the contrary, vesicle membrane integrity in presence of sodium cholate and calcium induced vesicle aggregation, are not affected by drug incorporation. Leakage of thiazides from liposomes was demonstrated to be induced by dilution. Low amounts of thiazides (around 10-15%) are released when lipid concentration is over 0.1 mM, while further dilution increased drug leakage exponentially. Concluding, results demonstrate that the presence of HCT or CT in liposome membranes has a significant effect on main vesicle properties, which are known to influence vesicle targeting ability. Thereby, it is very interesting to continue studies in this respect, especially with more lipophilic drugs.