Strategies for stabilization and preservation of liposomes

Pintu Chowdhary, L. Mahalakshmi, Sayantani Dutta, J.A. Moses, C. Anandharamakrishnan

Abstract

The stabilization of liposomes is an important aspect for maintaining the integrity of liposome structure. The stability of liposomes reduces in terms of uncontrollable fusion, undesirable payload loss, short shelf life, and unexpected mixing. Additionally, liposomes undergo physical as well as chemical degradation, causing low efficiency and quality of the formulation, and also the possibility of product degradation with undesirable side effects. Various factors influence the stability of liposomes, such as temperature, pH, surface charge, and lipid composition. To overcome this, various approaches have been implemented to stabilize them. This chapter describes various methods of liposome stabilization, such as surface modification, stabilizing membrane, changing lipid composition, and the addition of surfactants and nanoparticles. Furthermore, drying techniques such as freeze drying, spray drying, spray-freeze drying, electrohydrodynamic, and supercritical methods are also discussed for the preservation of liposomes.

Keywords

Drying techniques, Lipid composition, Stabilization, Surface modification