Interaction of local and general anaesthetics with liposomal membrane models: a QCM-D and DSC study

The behaviour of four local anaesthetics (lidocaine, levobupivacaine, ropivacaine and tetracaine) and one general anaesthetic (propofol) is compared when interacting with two types of model membranes: supported layers of liposomes and liposomes in solution. Several liposomal compositions were tested: dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC), binary mixtures of DMPC with cholesterol (CHOL), and ternary mixtures of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), DMPC, and CHOL. A quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation, QCM-D, was used to assess changes in the properties of supported layers of liposomes. The effect of the anaesthetics on the phase behaviour of the liposomes in suspension was determined by differential scanning calorimetry. Both techniques show that all anaesthetics have a fluidizing effect on the model membranes but, apparently, the solid supported liposomes are less affected by the anaesthetics than the liposomes in solution. Although the different anaesthetics were compared at different concentrations, tetracaine and propofol seem to induce the strongest perturbation on the liposome membrane. The resistance of the liposomes to the anaesthetic action was found to increase with the presence of cholesterol, while adding DPPC to the binary mixture DMPC+CHOL does not change its behaviour. The novelty of the present work resides upon three points: (1) the use of supported layers of liposomes as model membranes to study interactions with anaesthetics; (2) application of QCM-D to assess changes of the adsorbed liposomes; (3) a comparison of the effect of local and general anaesthetics interacting with various model membranes in similar experimental conditions.