Efficient Energy Transfer and Controlled Drug Release in Highly Stable Novel Nanoliposomes
Liposomes offer a very useful model system in many fundamental studies from membrane biophysics, photophysics and photochemistry, cell function and many others. The industrial applications include liposomes as drug delivery vehicles in medicine, signal enhancers/carriers in medical diagnostics, solubilizers and penetration enhancer in cosmetics. Nevertheless, the insufficient morphological stability of traditional liposomes may limit their applications. Therefore, we need develop a simple and reliable method to fabricate liposomes with higher stability. Herein, a novel super-stable and freestanding hybrid nanoliposome (partially ceramic- or silica-coated liposome) was fabricated using self-assembly in combination of sol gel strategy. Then, the cerasome with non-covalently linked two J-aggregates of cyanine dyes was employed as a model to advance conceptual understanding of excitation energy transfer and energy trapping in connection with photobiological procceses. The fluorescence output of the dye encapsulated cerasomes was approx. 200 times higher than that of aqueous dye reference due to fast coherent energy transfer. It is anticipated that self-assembly and fine-tuning of the light-harvesting complexes to cerasomes will lead to the construction of a wide range of supramolecular architectures, fostering innovative avenues for the development of biologically inspired materials. Also, a novel polymerized liposomal carrier loaded with paclitaxel has been developed by introduction of a polymerizable lipid into the lipid bilayer vesicles with the purpose of improving the physicochemical stability as well as the controlled-released property of conventional liposomes. The drug release rate was found to be well controlled by regulation of the proportion of the polymerizable lipid and the UV irradiation time.
