Resorcinolic lipids isolated from Anacardium occidentale nut oil extract (CNSL), unsaturated congeners of those isolated from bacterial and graminaceous sources, form at alkaline conditions liposomal structures alone as well as in the mixtures with cholesterol, fatty acids or phosphatidylethanolamine. Those vesicular structures show relatively high entrapment of the marker and stability of their size. The retention of the captured solute depends upon the type of resorcinolic lipid and on the temperature, but in general, is lower than control phospholipid liposomes.

Almost from the time of their rediscovery in the 60's and the demonstration of their entrapment potential, liposomal vesicles have drawn attention of researchers as potential carriers of various bioactive molecules that could be used for therapeutic applications in humans and animals. Several commercial liposome-based drugs have already been discovered, registered and introduced with great success on the pharmaceutical market. However, further studies, focusing on the elaboration of more efficient and stable amphiphile-based vesicular (or non-viral) drug carriers are still under investigation. In this review we present the achievements of our group in this field. We have discovered that natural amphiphilic dihydroxyphenols and their semisynthetic derivatives are promising additives to liposomal lipid compositions. The presence of these compounds in lipid composition enhances liposomal drug encapsulation, reduces the amount of the lipid carrier necessary for efficient entrapment of anthracycline drugs by a factor of two, stabilizes liposomal formulation of the drug (both in suspension and in a lyophilized powder), does not influence liposomal fate in the blood circulation system and benefits from other biological activities of their resorcinolic lipid modifiers.