Design and development of multi-walled carbon nanotube-liposome drug delivery platforms

The aim of this study is to design and develop delivery platforms made of liposomes and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). We used different lipids with different main transition temperature (Tm) and differently functionalized MWCNTs with organic addends possessing either positive or negative charge. The phospholipids used for the formulations were 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) (Tm=41°C) and L-α-phosphatidylcholine, hydrogenated Soy (HSPC) (Tm=53°C). By Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), we studied the interaction between the DPPC and HSPC bilayers and MWCNTs. Liposome-MWCNTs delivery platforms prepared according to the protocol used in the literature. We used dynamic and electrophoretic light scattering in order to investigate the physicochemical characteristics of these mixed nanocarriers. The presence of MWCNTs causes alterations of the size of the conventional HSPC and DPPC liposomes. The ζ-potential values of mixed nanocarriers are near zero. This observation indicates the effective incorporation of MWCNTs into the lipid bilayer of liposomes. Fluorescence spectroscopy has been utilized to exact some qualitative information on the internal nanostructure and nanoenvironment of the lipid/carbon nanotube mixed structures. Finally, we conclude that we successfully prepare and completely characterize mixed nanocarriers composed of lipids and MWCNTs, with low toxicity as indicated by in vitro screening.