Liposomes consisting of pluronic F127 and phospholipid: Effect of matrix on morphology, stability and curcumin delivery

Abstract

We prepared liposomes consisting of different ratios of phospholipid and pluronic F127 (F127-Lps), then evaluated the effect of matrix on the morphology, stability and carriers’ property of liposomes. The particle size of liposomes was significantly decreased after pluronic F127 modification. Pluronic F127 at low ratio may incorporate into liposomes and form spherical and lamellar structure, while pluronic F127 at high ratio can form mixed aggregates with spherical micelles and lamellar vesicles. The membrane stability of liposomes was enhanced with increasing of pluronic F127 ratio. Curcumin was encapsulated into F127-Lps (cur-F127-Lps) with an entrapment efficiency of 89%. The higher the ratio of pluronic F127 was, the slower the release rate of curcumin. First order model was the main release mechanism for curcumin loaded liposomes. These results are useful for designing liposome-based food delivery systems that can be used in functional foods.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Morphology
• pluronic F127
• phospholipid
• release mechanism
• stability

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21766008 and 21766018), the Youth Fund of Department of Education of Jiangxi Province (No.150804), Major Discipline Academic, Technical Leader Training Plan Project of Jiangxi Province, China (20162BCB22009), Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University (No. SKLF-KF-201822 and SKLF-ZZB-201717) and Key Project of Jiangxi Science & Technology Normal University (2013XJZD005).