One-step Production of Sterically Stabilized Anionic Nanoliposome Using Microfluidic Device

Abstract

Anionic liposomes (AL) are very attractive for nanomedicine and some formulations have already been launched for clinical development. Despite the excellent potential, their application presents two major challenges: laborious production methods and rapid degradation and elimination from blood by the immune system. In this work, we optimized the production of AL and its stealth form (SAL) using a onestep microfluidic process. We obtained unilamellar and near-monodisperse (< 10%) AL composed by the commercial composition (DMPC:DMPG) with mean size small as 53.7 nm, which is optimized for application in drug delivery. We also obtained SAL with similar characteristics using the microfluidic technique, overcoming the limitation of conventional methods where SAL presents high polydispersity (> 30%). This study demonstrates the great potential of the microfluidic technique for one-step production of stealth anionic nanoliposomes with controlled sizes and reproducible characteristics.

graphical abstract