Abstract
Entrapment efficiency (EE%) and in vitro stability of azidothymidine (AZT)-loaded hand-shaken multilamellar vesicles (MLVs), freeze and thaw vesicles (FATMLVs), and reverse phase evaporation vesicles (REVs) were compared. AZT entrapment in FATMLVs was further studied by varying initial lipid concentrations, drug concentration, and lipid composition. The results suggest that AZT entrapment is dependent on the aqueous volume entrapped within liposomes, and the interaction between the drug and liposomal bilayer may not be significant. Increasing the lipid concentration increases the liposomal entrapment of AZT but the encapsulation yield decreases above a lipid concentration of 30 μmol/mL. No significant difference was observed in EE% when the AZT concentration was varied from 5 to 20 mg/mL. The entrapment efficiency was highest (43.2%) for DSPC/CHOL/PS (molar ratio 6:3:3) vesicles but DSPC/CHOL/PS liposome formulations in a molar ratio of 4:3:3 or 4:5:1 and DSPC/CHOL/SA liposome formulations in a molar ratio of 4:5:1 were found to be more stable in vitro. In vitro drug release from liposomes was dependent on bilayer composition and the method of preparation.