Fate of different kinds of liposomes containing dexamethasone palmitate after intra-articular injection into rabbit joints

Abstract

The fate of oligolamellar and multilamellar vesicles containing dexamethasone palmitate after intra-articular injection into healthy rabbit joints was investigated to improve the liposome formulation in respect to better bioavailability of the effective substance within the arthritic joint. The defined negatively charged oligolamellar vesicles (dexamethasone) palmitate, egg phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidic acid, molar ratio 0.24: 10.1) of a mean diameter of 0.75 μm gave better results than multilamellar vesicles (dexamethasone palmitate, dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidic acid, molar ratio 0.24:10:1) used for the same purpose by several other authors. The positive charge carrier stearylamine does not induce any improvement.