Liposome carrier vehicle for triiodothryonine

1. Liposomes (multilamellar vesicles, MLV) were prepared which entrapped triiodothyronine (T3). The MLV were composed of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine, cholesterol and dicetylphosphate as DMPC alone, DMPC:Chol (7.2 molar ratio) and DMPC:Chol:DCP (7:2:1 molar ratio). 2. The optimal T3 entrapment was within MLV composed of DMPC: Chol:DCP. The entrapped concentrations of T3 was 63.1%. 3. The MLV composed of DMPC:Chol:DCP did not leak T3 from the MLV into buffered saline but did leak T3 into serum (42.5% after 4 h). 4. The MLV composed of DMPC:Chol:DCP exhibited a distribution of T3 between membrane associated and membrane entrapped of 42.58%.