Liposomes, vesicles composed of phospholipid bilayers, are important pharmaceutical nanocarriers able to deliver drugs to target tissues following physical or biochemical triggers.
Margaret N. Holme, University of Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues developed a new form of vesicles which release their cargo under mechanical stress conditions. The scientists synthesized Pad–PC–Pad, artificial phospholipids containing two amide bonds at position 1 and 3 of the glycerol backbone, and demonstrated that they form vesicles endowed with a lentil-shape which renders them mechanosensitive. These liposomes, while stable under static conditions, release their content under increased shear stress such as that occurring in constricted heart arteries.
These vesicles could be, therefore, important therapeutic tools to treat artherosclerosis avoiding the side effects of systemic drugs administration.
- Shear-stress sensitive lenticular vesicles for targeted drug delivery,
M. N. Holme, I. A. Fedotenko, D. Abegg, J. Althaus, L. Babel, F. Favarger, R. Reiter, R. Tanasescu, P. L. Zaffalon, A. Ziegler, B. Müller, T. Saxer, A. Zumbuehl,
Nat. Nanotechnol. 2012
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2012.84
