Kinetic aspects and mechanism of liposome disintegration in polyoxyethylene lauryl ether and sodium cholate solutions

The disintegration behaviour of liposomes in polyoxyethylene lauryl ether (PLE) and sodium cholate solutions was studied by the turbidity disappearance method. In maximally solubilized systems of liposomes, the molar ratios (phosphatidylcholine/surfactant) were 0.43 and 1.8 for PLE and sodium cholate, respectively. The disintegration process of either unilamellar or multilamellar liposomes followed first-order kinetics. Based on a physical model in which liposomes heterogeneous in size were assumed to disintegrate from the outermost shell one by one, a mathematical expression of the turbidity disappearance rate was introduced and applied to explain the data thus obtained. Model calculations suggested that the number of disintegrated shells would not be so large, even if up to 50% reduction of the initial turbidity was observed. From the dependence of the pseudo-first-order rate constant (kobs) on the surfactant concentration for unilamellar liposomes, it was assumed in general that kobs consists of the contributions of the monomer and micellar fractions: for PLE, both fractions shared in the disintegration, but only the micellar fraction with sodium cholate. Furthermore, in the latter case, kobs depended on the initial liposome concentration. These results are likely to be consistent with the proposed modes of surfactant action classified as type A and type B (Helenius, A. and Simons, K. (1975) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 415, 29-79).