Arsonoliposomes: Preparation and Physicochemical Characterization

Abstract

Arsonoliposomes (ARSL) which are liposomes that contain arsonolipids in their membranes have shown interesting anticancer and antiparasitic activity in vitro. Their lipid composition (the specific arsonolipids and/or phospholipids used for their preparation, and the relative amounts of each lipid type) highly influences their physicochemical properties as well as their in vivo kinetics and antiparasitic activity; however, their cytotoxicity towards cancer cells is minimally--if at all--modified. ARSL are prepared by a modification of the "one step" method followed or not by sonication (for formation of sonicated or non-sonicated ARSL, respectively). Arsonoliposomes may be composed only of arsonolipids (containing or not cholesterol) [plain ARSL], or they may contain mixtures of arsonolipids with phospholipids (with or without Chol) [mixed ARSL]. Herein, we describe in detail the preparation and physicochemical characterization of ARSL.

In vitro anticancer activity and physicochemical characterization of liposomal and hybrid formulations of curcumin and curcumin / doxorubicin formulations

“…The one step method (Talsma et al, 1994) has been applied for the preparation of a special class of liposomes, the arsonoliposomes (Antimisiaris and Ioannou, 2010). For this, lipids (as powders) are mixed with water (or in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)), pH 7.40, magnetically stirred vigorously on a hot plate for 3-6 h at 70-90°C, depending onthe transition temperature of the arsonolipid used (Serves et al, 1993).…”