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Generation of large unilamellar vesicles from long-chain saturated phosphatidylcholines by extrusion technique

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Abstract

Extrusion of multilamellar vesicles under moderate pressures through filters of defined pore size is a convenient method for generation of large unilamellar vesicles of variable size (Hope et al. (1986) Chem. Phys. Lipids 40, 89–108). To date, this technique has been applied primarily to unsaturated phospholipids in the liquid-crystalline state. In this work we extend this procedure to include saturated phosphatidylcholines of chain lengths varying from C14 (dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine) to C20 (diarachidoyl phosphaidylcholine). It is shown that whereas gel-state lipids cannot be extruded at convenient pressures, systems incubated at temperatures above the gel-to-liquid-crystalline transition (Tc) can be readily extruded through filters with pore sizes ranging from 30 nm to 200 nm to produce homogeneously sized systems. The presence of cholesterol (45 mol%) slightly facilitates extrusion at temperatures below Tc and results in reduced extrulsion rates above Tc. Vesicle systems containing long-chain saturated lipids have potential in applications where highly stable large unilamellar vesicles are required.

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