Enhanced drug transport from unilamellar to multilamellar liposomes induced by molecular recognition of their lipid membranes

Unilamellar PC-based liposomes bearing a recognizable moiety were loaded either with the hydrophilic drug doxorubicin (DXR) or with the hydrophobic drug tamoxiphen (TMX) and allowed to interact with multilamellar PC-based liposomes bearing complementary recognizable groups. It has been established that, due to molecular recognition of these complementary liposomes, effective and fast transport of the drugs occurs from unilamellar to multilamellar liposomes. The transport of TMX is more effective compared to that of DXR. This behavior was observed for both PEGylated and non-PEGylated unilamellar liposomes, and it was attributed to the different sites of solubilization of the drugs in the unilamellar liposomes. PEGylation reduces the transport of both drugs since it inhibits to some extent the molecular recognition effectiveness of the complementary moieties.