Microfluidic Methods for Production of Liposomes

Bo Yu*, Robert J. Lee, L. James Lee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

124 Scopus citations

Abstract

Liposomes are composed of lipid bilayer membranes that encapsulate an aqueous volume. A major challenge in the development of liposomes for drug delivery is the control of size and size distribution. In conventional methods, lipids are spontaneously assembled into heterogeneous bilayers in a bulk phase. Additional processing by extrusion or sonication is required to obtain liposomes with small size and a narrow size distribution. Microfluidics is an emerging technology for liposome synthesis, because it enables precise control of the lipid hydration process. Here, we describe a number of microfluidic methods that have been reported to produce micro/nanosized liposomes with narrower size distribution in a reproducible manner, focusing on the use of continuous-flow microfluidics. The advantages of liposome formation using the microfluidic approach over traditional bulk-mixing approaches are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)129-141
Number of pages13
JournalMethods in Enzymology
Volume465
Issue numberC
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009

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