Preparation and characterization of doxorubicin liposomes

During nanoparticle system in drug delivery, liposomes were perhaps the best characterized and one of the first to be developed. Stealth liposomes (SLs), containing polyethylene glycol-conjugated lipid, which can form a hydro-layer around liposomes bilayer, have a long circulation time and hence result in enhanced drug efficiency. Doxorubicin (DOX), an effective anticancer drug, can be loaded into liposomes by transmembrane pH gradient method to get high encapsulation efficiency with high drug/lipid ratio. Liposomal doxorubicin is a successful clinical formulation, and also a perfect model drug system for cancer-therapy research. Here we described the preparation of SLs via extrusion, DOX loading by transmembrane pH gradient method, and characterization analysis, including phospholipid concentration, size, transmission electronic microscopy graph, encapsulation efficiency, and in vitro drug release.