Enhancing electroporation-induced liposomal drug release in suspension and solid phases

When exposed to an external electric field, lipid bilayer membranes are subject to increased permeability through the generation of pores. Combining this phenomenon, known as electroporation, with liposomal drug delivery offers the added benefit of on-demand release of the liposomal cargo. In previous studies, the maximum percent drug release when exposing liposomes to a pulsed electric field has not surpassed 30%, indicating most of the drug is still retained in the liposomes. Here we showed that by modulating the fluidity of the liposome membrane through appropriate selection of the primary lipid, as well as the addition of other fluidity modulating components such as cholesterol and biotinylated lipid, the electroporation-induced percent release could be increased to over 50%. In addition to improved induced release from liposomes in suspension, biomaterial scaffold-bound liposomes were developed. Electroporation-induced protein release from this solid phase was verified after performing further optimization of the liposome formulation to achieve increased stability at physiological temperatures. Collectively, this work advances the ability to achieve efficient electroporation-induced liposomal drug delivery, which has the potential to be used in concert with other clinical applications of electroporation, such as gene electrotransfer and irreversible electroporation (IRE), in order to synergistically increase treatment efficacy.