Particle Metrology Approach to Understanding How Storage Conditions Affect Long-Term Liposome Stability

Lipid nanoparticles are a generic type of nanomaterial with broad applicability in medicine as drug delivery vehicles. Liposomes are a subtype of lipid nanoparticles and, as a therapeutic platform, can be loaded with a genetic material or pharmaceutical agents for use as drug treatments. An open question for these types of lipid nanoparticles is what factor(s) affect the long-term stability of the particles. The stability of the particle is of great interest to understand and predict the effective shelf-life and storage requirements. In this report, we detail a one-year study of liposome stability as a function of lipid composition, buffer composition/pH, and storage temperature. This was done in aqueous solution without freezing. The effect of lipid composition is shown to be a critical factor when evaluating stability of the measured particle size and number concentration. Other factors (i.e., storage temperature and buffer pH/composition) were shown to be less critical but still have some effect. The stability of these particles informs formulation and optimal storage requirements and assists with future developmental planning of a NIST liposome-based reference material. This work also highlights the complex nature of long-term soft particle storage in biopharmaceutical applications.