Lipid Nanovesicles Research Articles

Recent Advancement in Exosome-Inspired Lipid Nanovesicles for Cell-Specific Drug Delivery

Recent Advancement in Exosome-Inspired Lipid Nanovesicles for Cell-Specific Drug Delivery

Fusogenic Lipid Nanovesicle for Biomacromolecular Delivery.

Although biomacromolecules are promising cytosolic drugs which have attracted tremendous attention, the major obstacles were the cellular membrane hindering the entrance and the endosome entrapment inducing biomacromolecule degradation. How to avoid those limitations to realize directly cytosolic delivery was still a challenge. Here, we prepared oligoarginine modified lipid to assemble a nanovesicle for biomacromolecules delivery, including mRNA (mRNA) and proteins which could be directly delivered into the cytoplasm of dendritic cells through subendocytosis-mediated membrane fusion. We named this membrane fusion lipid nanovesicle as MF-LNV. The mRNA loaded MF-LNV as nanovaccines showed efficient antigen expression to elicit robust immuno responses for cancer therapy. What's more, the antigen protein loaded MF-LNV as nanovaccines elicits much stronger CD8+ T cell specific responses than lipid nanoparticles through normal uptake pathways. This MF-LNV represented a refreshing strategy for intracellular delivery of the biomacromolecule.

Live-Cell Imaging of MicroRNA Expression via Photoinduced Electron Transfer Controlled by Catalytic Hairpin Assembly.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) serve as emerging biomarkers for a range of diseases, and their quantitative analysis draws increasing attention. Yet, current invasive methods limit continuous tracking within living cells. To overcome this, a nonenzymatic DNA-based nanoprobe is developed for dynamic, noninvasive miRNA tracking via live-cell imaging. This probe features a unique hairpin DNA structure with five guanines that act as internal quenchers, suppressing fluorescence from an attached fluorophore via photoinduced electron transfer. Target miRNA initiates toehold-mediated strand displacement, restoring, and amplifying the fluorescence signal. Additionally, by introducing a single mismatch to the hairpin DNA, the nanoprobe's sensitivity is significantly enhanced, lowering the detection limit to about 60 pM without compromising specificity. To optimize intracellular delivery for prolonged monitoring, the nanoprobe is encapsulated within multilamellar lipid nanovesicles, fluorescently labeled for dual-wavelength ratiometric analysis. The proposed nanoprobe demonstrates a significant advance in live-cell miRNA detection, promising enhanced in situ analysis for a better understanding of miRNAs' pathophysiological function.

Fabrication and optimization of chitosan-g-m-PEG-NH2 copolymer for advanced glioblastoma therapy using surface engineered lentinan loaded nanovesicles for nasal delivery

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) exhibits a high mortality with an incidence rate of 3–5 per 100,000 each year, which demands existence of newer approach for its treatment. The current study focuses on synthesis of novel lipidic nanovesicles (LNs) loaded with highly potent macromolecule Lentinan (LNT) and surface modified with methoxy poly (ethylene glycol; PEG) amine (m-PEG-NH2)-grafted-chitosan (CS) for intranasal delivery. The grafting procedure was optimized using Box Behnken design (BBD) to limit the use of organic solvents. The fabricated polymer showed enhanced aqueous solubility, biodegradability and mucoadhesion, resulting in higher nasal mucosa permeation (z = 53.52 μm). The presence of PEG enabled the sustained release of LNT till 48 h and assisted in achieving higher accumulation of LNT in CSF (41.7 ± 3.1 μg/mL) and a higher brain targeting potential of 96.3 ± 2.31 % (p < 0.05). In-vitro cellular studies showed the enhanced anti-GBM effect of LNT on U87 MG cells by reducing the cell viability (~2 times reduction in IC50 value) accompanied with large number of cells undergoing late apoptosis and death (p < 0.05) because of the higher cellular uptake (63.22 ± 3.01 ng/100 cells) of novel formulation. The copolymer comprising LNs were biocompatible, stable and can be used as an effective tool in the management of GBM.

Biomimetic Multilayered Lipid Nanovesicles for Potent Protein Vaccination.

Lipid vesicles are widely used for drug and gene delivery, but their structural instability reduces in vivo efficacy and requires specialized handling. To address these limitations, strategies like lipid cross-linking and polymer-lipid conjugation are suggested to enhance stability and biological efficacy. However, the in vivo metabolism of these altered lipids remains unclear, necessitating further studies. A new stabilization technique without chemical modification is urgently needed. Here, a bio-mimetic approach for fabricating robust multilamellar lipid vesicles to enhance in vivo delivery and stabilization of protein antigens is presented. This method leverages 1-O-acylceramide, a natural skin lipid, to facilitate the self-assembly of lipid nanovesicles. Incorporating 1-O-acylceramide, anchoring lipid bilayers akin to its role in the stratum corneum, provides excellent stability under environmental stresses, including freeze-thaw cycles. Encapsulating ovalbumin as a model antigen and the adjuvant monophosphoryl lipid A demonstrates the vesicle's potential as a nanovaccine platform. In vitro studies show enhanced immune responses with both unilamellar and multilamellar vesicles, but in vivo analyses highlight the superior efficiency of multilamellar vesicles in inducing higher antibody and cytokine levels. This work suggests ceramide-induced multilamellar lipid vesicles as an effective nanovaccine platform for enhanced antigen delivery and stability.

Selective Binding of Tannic Acid-Conjugated Lipid Nanovesicles to Proline-Rich Proteins Enhances Transdermal Lipophilic-Antioxidant Delivery.

Tannic acid (TA) possesses a notable ability to adhere to proline-rich proteins that make up skin cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM) in the skin tissue. Drug carriers with this specific adhesion ability exhibit improved drug delivery efficiency on the skin. Taking advantage of this, this study presents skin-adhesive TA-conjugated lipid nanovesicles (TANVs) for enhanced transdermal antioxidant delivery. We found that TANVs exhibited selective intermolecular interactions with keratinocyte proline-rich proteins (KPRPs) and collagen that makes up skin cells by hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions, further enabling the strong bonding to macroscopic skin itself and ECM. We used vitamin E (α-tocopherol), which is known to effectively reduce oxidative stress but has limited skin penetration, as a drug to verify improved in vitro delivery and therapeutic efficacy. The evaluation revealed that the antioxidant-loaded TANVs exerted excellent scavenging effects against reactive oxygen species induced by ultraviolet light or peroxides in the skin, thereby enabling the development of an active drug delivery system for dermal therapy.

Efficient EVs separation and detection by an alumina-nanochannel-array-membrane integrated microfluidic chip and an antibody barcode biochip

BackgroundSmall endosome-derived lipid nanovesicles (30–200 nm) are actively secreted by living cells and serve as pivotal biomarkers for early cancer diagnosis. However, the study of extracellular vesicles (EVs) requires isolation and purification from various body fluids. Although traditional EVs isolation and detection technologies are mature, they usually require large amount of sample, consumes long-time, and have relatively low-throughput. How to efficiently isolate, purify and detect these structurally specific EVs from body fluids with high-throughput remains a great challenge in in vitro diagnostics and clinical research. ResultsHerein, we suggest a nanosized microfluidic device for efficient and economical EVs filtration based on an alumina nanochannel array membrane. We evaluated the filtration device performance of alumina membranes with different diameters and found that an optimized chamber array with a hydrophilic-treated channel diameter of 90 nm could realize a filtration efficiency of up to 82% without any assistance from chemical or physical separation methods. Importantly, by integrating meticulously designed multichannel microfluidic biochips, EVs can be captured in-situ and monitored by antibody barcode biochip. The proposed filtration chip together with the high-throughput detection chip were capable of filtration of a few tens of μL samples and recognition of different phonotypes. The practical filtration and detection of EVs from clinical samples demonstrated the high performance of the device. SignificantOverall, this work provides a cost-effective, highly efficient and automated EVs filtration chip and detection dual-function integrated chip platform, which can directly separate EVs from serum or cerebrospinal fluid with an efficiency of 82% and conduct in-situ detection. This small fluidic device can provide a powerful tool for highly efficient identifying and analyzing EVs, presenting great application potential in clinical detection.

Characterization of Nanohybridosomes from Lipids and Spruce Homogenate Containing Extracellular Vesicles.

Lipid nanovesicles associated with bioactive phytochemicals from spruce needle homogenate (here called nano-sized hybridosomes or nanohybridosomes, NSHs) were considered. We formed NSHs by mixing appropriate amounts of lecithin, glycerol and supernatant of isolation of extracellular vesicles from spruce needle homogenate. We visualized NSHs by light microscopy and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy and assessed them by flow cytometry, dynamic light scattering, ultraviolet-visual spectroscopy, interferometric light microscopy and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. We found that the particles consisted of a bilayer membrane and a fluid-like interior. Flow cytometry and interferometric light microscopy measurements showed that the majority of the particles were nano-sized. Dynamic light scattering and interferometric light microscopy measurements agreed well on the average hydrodynamic radius of the particles Rh (between 140 and 180 nm), while the concentrations of the particles were in the range between 1013 and 1014/mL indicating that NSHs present a considerable (more than 25%) of the sample which is much more than the yield of natural extracellular vesicles (EVs) from spruce needle homogenate (estimated less than 1%). Spruce specific lipids and proteins were found in hybridosomes. Simple and low-cost preparation method, non-demanding saving process and efficient formation procedure suggest that large-scale production of NSHs from lipids and spruce needle homogenate is feasible.

Cell Membrane Hybrid Lipid Nanovesicles Enhance Innate Immunity for Synergistic Immunotherapy by Promoting Immunogenic Cell Death and cGAS Activation.

Immunotherapy shows great therapeutic potential for long-term protection against tumor relapse and metastasis. Innate immune sensors, such as cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) and stimulator of interferon genes (STING), dissolve DNA and induce type I interferon. Through activation of the cGAS/STING pathway, chemotherapy drugs and reversine (REV) may provide synergetic anti-tumor effects. Here, we prepared drug-loaded cell membrane hybrid lipid nanovesicles (LEVs) (designated LEV@DOX@REV) by fusion of cell membranes, phospholipids, doxorubicin (DOX), and REV, to realize accurate delivery to tumors and chemo-immunotherapy. The cell membranes of LEVs confer "homing" abilities. DOX can induce immunogenic cell death as a result of its specific immunomodulatory effects, which promotes the maturation of immune cells and improves the microenvironment of the immune system. REV is proven to efficiently activate cGAS/STING signaling, thereby enhancing the immune system. The antitumor efficacy of LEV@DOX@REV was evaluated in a 4T1 subcutaneous tumor xenograft model, a distant metastatic tumor model, and a liver metastatic tumor model. LEV@DOX@REV facilitated the infiltration of cytotoxic T lymphocytes within tumors, increased the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, and modified the tumor microenvironment. In conclusion, LEV@DOX@REV displayed favorable antitumor effects and extended the survival of tumor-bearing mice. We therefore successfully developed nanoparticles capable of enhancing immune activation that have potential therapeutic applications for cancer immunotherapy.

Encapsulation of telmisartan inside insulinoma-cell-derived extracellular vesicles outperformed biomimetic nanovesicles in modulating the pancreatic inflammatory microenvironment.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic condition, characterized by hyperglycaemia, oxidative imbalance, pancreatic β-cell death, and insulin insufficiency. Angiotensin II (Ang II) increases oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis, and Ang II type 1 receptor (AT1R) blockers (ARBs) can ameliorate inflammatory response and oxidative stress. However, like other small-molecule drugs, free ARBs show poor in vivo efficacy and dose-limiting toxicities. Hence, in this study, we developed nano-formulations of telmisartan (TEL), an ARB, by encapsulating it inside a murine insulinoma cell-derived extracellular vesicle (nanoTEL) and a bio-mimetic lipid nanovesicle (lipoTEL). Both nano-formulations showed spherical morphology and sustained release of TEL. In vitro, nanoTEL restored oxidative equilibrium, attenuated reactive oxygen species levels, enhanced the uptake of glucose analogue, and increased the expression of glucose transporter protein 4 better than lipoTEL. In a streptozotocin-induced murine model of diabetes, nanoTEL lowered blood glucose levels, improved glucose tolerance, and promoted insulin synthesis and secretion significantly better than lipoTEL. Moreover, nanoTEL was found superior in ameliorating the pancreatic inflammatory microenvironment by regulating NF-κBp65, HIF-1α, and PPAR-γ expression; modulating IL-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-10, and IL-4 levels and inducing the polarization of macrophage from M1 to M2. Further, nanoTEL administration induced angiogenesis and promoted the proliferation of pancreatic cells to restore the structural integrity of the islets of Langerhans more efficiently than lipoTEL. These findings collectively suggest that nanoTEL outperforms lipoTEL in restoring the function of pancreatic β-cells by modulating the pancreatic inflammatory microenvironment and show potential for the treatment of DM.

Exosomes: a significant medium for regulating drug resistance through cargo delivery.

Exosomes are small lipid nanovesicles with a diameter of 30-150nm. They are present in all body fluids and are actively secreted by the majority of cells through the process of exocytosis. Exosomes play an essential role in intercellular communication and act as significant molecular carriers in regulating various physiological and pathological processes, such as the emergence of drug resistance in tumors. Tumor-associated exosomes transfer drug resistance to other tumor cells by releasing substances such as multidrug resistance proteins and miRNAs through exosomes. These substances change the cell phenotype, making it resistant to drugs. Tumor-associated exosomes also play a role in impacting drug resistance in other cells, like immune cells and stromal cells. Exosomes alter the behavior and function of these cells to help tumor cells evade immune surveillance and form a tumor niche. In addition, exosomes also export substances such as tumoricidal drugs and neutralizing antibody drugs to help tumor cells resist drug therapy. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of exosomes in promoting drug resistance by delivering cargo in the context of the tumor microenvironment (TME).

Intranasal delivery of poly (d-glucosamine) encrusted self-assembled lipidic nanovesicles to enhanced brain uptake of thymoquinone for management of Glioblastoma Multiforme

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is a grade IV primary malignant brain tumour, which is highly infiltrative and exhibits a poor prognosis which results in high mortality. Low solubility and stability are the major hurdles faced while developing drug delivery systems for the treatment of GBM. Therefore, this study focuses on the enhancement of brain uptake of thymoquinone (TH) by formulating poly (d-glucosamine) self-assembled lipidic nanovesicles for intranasal delivery using 3-level and 3-factor central composite design (CCD). The nanovesicles were formulated using thin film hydration technique and were spherical with the particle size of 129.13 ± 2.3 nm and 32.4 ± 2.4 mV of zeta potential. The formulation exhibited high entrapment and drug loading of TH i.e., 95.07 ± 0.8 % and 8.91 ± 0.2 % respectively. The nanovesicles attained a sustained release of TH of 89.62 ± 2.9 % in 48 h with improved drug permeation of 41.89 ± 1.61 % in 12 h from nasal mucosa with enhanced mucoadhesion of 72.98 ± 1.78 %. The in-vitro cellular studies indicated the high anticancer potential of TH by lowering the cell viability to 32.90 ± 0.91 % at 25 μg/mL (IC50;21.10 μg/mL) and high radical scavenging of 69.35 ± 1.91 % (IC50;18.10 μg/mL) and improved cellular uptake of 48.71 ± 0.10ng/100 cells. Greater bioavailability of TH in CNS (∼3 folds that of IV solution) was observed along with a high drug-targeting percentage (98.1 ± 3.90 %) and drug-targeting index (11.67 ± 1.87 %) post-intranasal administration of the formulation. Quantitative uptake of the formulation was estimated using fluorescence imaging, which showed higher uptake in tissues of the brain. The formulation was having very less hemolysis (<8 %). Hence the formulated carriers can be a promising tool for the treatment of GBM.

Extracellular vesicles hybrid plasmid-loaded lipid nanovesicles for synergistic cancer immunotherapy

Combination immunotherapy of cancer vaccines with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) represents a promising therapeutic strategy for immunosuppressed and cold tumors. However, this strategy still faces challenges, including the limited therapeutic efficacy of cancer vaccines and immune-related adverse events associated with systematic delivery of ICIs. Herein, we demonstrate the antitumor immune response induced by outer membrane vesicle from Akkermansia muciniphila (Akk-OMV), which exhibites a favorable safety profile, highlighting the potential application as a natural and biocompatible self-adjuvanting vesicle. Utilizing tumor cell-derived exosome as an antigen source and Akk-OMV as a natural adjuvant, we construct a cancer vaccine formulation of extracellular vesicles hybrid lipid nanovesicles (Lipo@HEV) for enhanced prophylactic and therapeutic vaccination by promoting dendritic cell (DC) maturation in lymph node and activating cytotoxic T cell (CTL) response. The Lipo@HEV is further loaded with plasmid to enable gene therapy-mediated PD-L1 blockade upon peritumoral injection. Meanwhile, it penetrates into lymph node to initiate DC maturation and CTL activation, synergistically inhibiting the established tumor. The fabrication of extracellular vesicles hybrid plasmid-loaded lipid nanovesicles reveals a promising gene therapy-guided and vesicle-based hybrid system for therapeutic cancer vaccination and synergistic immunotherapy strategy.

Newly Synthesized Anticancer Purine Derivatives Inhibiting p-EIF4E Using Surface-Modified Lipid Nanovesicles.

Translation of mRNA is one of the processes adopted by cancer cells to maintain survival via phosphorylated (p)-eIF4E overexpression. Once p-eIF4E binds to the cap structure of mRNA, it advocates a nonstop translation process. In this regard, 15 new-based GMP analogs were synthesized to target eIF4E and restrain its binding to cap mRNA. The compounds were tested against three types of cancer cell lines: Caco-2, HepG-2, MCF-7, and normal kidney cells (Vero cells). Most of the compounds showed high potency against breast cancer cells (MCF-7), characterized by the highest cancer type for overexpression of p-eIF4E. Compound 4b was found to be the most active against three cell lines, colon (Caco-2), hepatic (HepG-2), and breast (MCF-7), with positive IC50 values of 31.40, 27.15, and 21.71 μM, respectively. Then, chitosan-coated niosomes loaded with compound 4b (Cs/4b-NSs) were developed (as kinetically enhanced molecules) to improve the anticancer effects further. The prepared Cs/4b-NSs showed pronounced cytotoxicity compared to the free 4b against Caco2, Hepg2, and MCF-7 with IC50 values of 16.15, 26.66, and 6.90 μM, respectively. Then, the expression of both the phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated western blot techniques was conducted on MCF-7 cells treated with the most active compounds (based on the obtained IC50 values) to determine the total protein expression of both eIF4E and p-eIF4e. Interestingly, the selected most active compounds displayed 35.8-40.7% inhibition of p-eIF4E expression when evaluated on MCF-7 compared to Ribavirin (positive control). CS/4b-NSs showed the best inhibition (40.7%). The findings of the present joint in silico molecular docking, simulation dynamic studies, and experimental investigation suggest the potential use of niosomal nanovesicles as a promising nanocarrier for the targeted delivery of the newly synthesized compound 4b to eukaryotic initiation factor 4E. These outcomes support the possible use of Cs/4b-NSs in targeted cancer therapy.

Biomimetic Dispersive Solid-Phase Microextraction: A Novel Concept for High-Throughput Estimation of Human Oral Absorption of Organic Compounds.

There is a quest for a novel in vitro analytical methodology that is properly validated for the prediction of human oral absorption and bioaccumulation of organic compounds with no need of animal models. The traditional log P parameter might not serve to predict bioparameters accurately inasmuch as it merely accounts for the hydrophobicity of the compound, but the actual interaction with the components of eukaryotic cells is neglected. This contribution proposes for the first time a novel biomimetic microextraction approach capitalized on immobilized phosphatidylcholine as a plasma membrane surrogate onto organic polymeric sorptive phases for the estimation of human intestinal effective permeability of a number of pharmaceuticals that are also deemed contaminants of emerging concern in environmental settings. A comprehensive exploration of the conformation of the lipid structure onto the surfaces is undertaken so as to discriminate the generation of either lipid monolayers or bilayers or the attachment of lipid nanovesicles. The experimentally obtained biomimetic extraction data is proven to be a superb parameter against other molecular descriptors for the development of reliable prediction models of human jejunum permeability with R2 = 0.76, but the incorporation of log D and the number of aromatic rings in multiple linear regression equations enabled improved correlations up to R2 = 0.88. This work is expected to open new avenues for expeditious in vitro screening methods for oral absorption of organic contaminants of emerging concern in human exposomics.

Recent advances in lipid nanovesicles for targeted treatment of spinal cord injury.

The effective regeneration and functional restoration of damaged spinal cord tissue have been a long-standing concern in regenerative medicine. Treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI) is challenging due to the obstruction of the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB), the lack of targeting of drugs, and the complex pathophysiology of injury sites. Lipid nanovesicles, including cell-derived nanovesicles and synthetic lipid nanovesicles, are highly biocompatible and can penetrate BSCB, and are therefore effective delivery systems for targeted treatment of SCI. We summarize the progress of lipid nanovesicles for the targeted treatment of SCI, discuss their advantages and challenges, and provide a perspective on the application of lipid nanovesicles for SCI treatment. Although most of the lipid nanovesicle-based therapy of SCI is still in preclinical studies, this low immunogenicity, low toxicity, and highly engineerable nanovesicles will hold great promise for future spinal cord injury treatments.

Box-Behnken Design-Aided Validation and Optimization of a Stability-Indicating Reverse Phase-HPLC Method for the Estimation of Tamoxifen Citrate in Lipidic Nano-Vesicles.

Stability indicating a reverse-phase HPLC analytical method for the quantification of tamoxifen citrate (TMX) in the bulk and lipidic nano-vesicles (LNVs) was developed. The optimized method was validated according to the ICH Q2 (R1) guidelines by following a three-factor interaction Box-Behnken design using Design-Expert® software. The responses measured at 236nm were retention time (Rt), peak area, tailing factor (TF) and the number of theoretical plates. TMX was eluted best using the Luna® C18 LC Column along with a mobile phase of methanol (MeOH) and ammonium acetate buffer (AAB pH4.5) 80:20v/v mixture at 25 ± 2°C temperature. The currently developed method was linear in 100-5,000ng/mL range with a detection limit of 4.55ng/mL and a quantification limit of 13.78ng/mL. The optimized method was utilized to evaluate the stability of TMX in different stress conditions by performing forced degradation studies. The results from the degradation study stipulated that on exposure to various stressors namely acid, alkali, oxidative, thermal and UV light, the TMX did not show considerable degradation except for UV light exposure. Further, the method was successfully used for the quantification of TMX in LNVs.

Highly Robust Multilamellar Lipid Vesicles Generated through Intervesicular Self-Assembly Mediated by Hydrolyzed Collagen Peptides.

Despite the well-known advantages of lipid vesicles for drug and gene delivery, structural instability limits their practical applications and requires strictly regulated conditions for transport and storage. Chemical crosslinking and in situ polymerization have been suggested to increase the membrane rigidity and dispersion stability of lipid vesicles. However, such chemically modified lipids sacrifice the dynamic nature of lipid vesicles and obfuscate their in vivo metabolic fates. Here, we present highly robust multilamellar lipid vesicles through the self-assembly of preformed, cationic large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) with hydrolyzed collagen peptides (HCPs). The cationic LUVs undergo vesicle-to-vesicle attachment and structural reorganization through polyionic complexation with HCPs, resulting in the formation of multilamellar collagen-lipid vesicles (MCLVs). The resulting MCLVs exhibit excellent structural stability against variations in pH and ionic strength and the addition of surfactants. Particularly, the MCLVs maintain their structural stability against repeated freeze-thaw stresses, proving the unprecedented stabilization effect of biological macromolecules on lipid lamellar structures. This work provides a practically attractive technique for the simple and quick fabrication of structurally robust lipid nanovesicles without covalent crosslinkers, organic solvents, and specialized instruments.

Interaction of Rhus typhina Tannin with Lipid Nanoparticles: Implication for the Formulation of a Tannin–Liposome Hybrid Biomaterial with Antibacterial Activity

Tannins are natural plant origin polyphenols that are promising compounds for pharmacological applications due to their strong and different biological activities, including antibacterial activity. Our previous studies demonstrated that sumac tannin, i.e., 3,6-bis-O-di-O-galloyl-1,2,4-tri-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose (isolated from Rhus typhina L.), possesses strong antibacterial activity against different bacterial strains. One of the crucial factors of the pharmacological activity of tannins is their ability to interact with biomembranes, which may result in the penetration of these compounds into cells or the realization of their activity on the surface. The aim of the current work was to study the interactions of sumac tannin with liposomes as a simple model of the cellular membrane, which is widely used in studies focused on the explanation of the physicochemical nature of molecule–membrane interactions. Additionally, these lipid nanovesicles are very often investigated as nanocarriers for different types of biologically active molecules, such as antibiotics. In the frame of our study, using differential scanning calorimetry, zeta-potential, and fluorescence analysis, we have shown that 3,6-bis-O-di-O-galloyl-1,2,4-tri-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose interacts strongly with liposomes and can be encapsulated inside them. A formulated sumac–liposome hybrid nanocomplex demonstrated much stronger antibacterial activity in comparison with pure tannin. Overall, by using the high affinity of sumac tannin to liposomes, new, functional nanobiomaterials with strong antibacterial activity against Gram-positive strains, such as S. aureus, S. epidermitis, and B. cereus, can be formulated.

Brief Insight on Nanovesicular Liposomes as Drug-delivery Carriers for Medical Applications

Nanotechnology has revolutionized and improved the potential of drug-delivery systems. Lipidic nanovesicles, termed liposomes, offer several benefits as drug-delivery carriers due to their compositional similarity with human biological membranes. Some of the advantages offered by liposomes include targeted drug delivery and improved pharmacokinetics of an entrapped drug substance, leading to enhanced bioavailability. Additionally, the reduction in the drug dose or dosing frequency, reduced drug toxicity or side effects, longer and controlled therapeutic response of a drug essential for the treatment of chronic diseases, and improved patient acceptance margins are some other benefits offered by liposomes. The easily modifiable surface of liposomes makes it an ideal vehicle for targeting a drug to the desired site. The current review provides insight on liposomes as drug-delivery carriers. This review summarizes the classification of compositional constituents of liposomes based on their chemical nature and structure. Morphology-based classification of liposomes along with methods of preparation and characterization for liposomes are also summarized. The current review emphasizes the medical applications of liposomes, specifically as delivery carriers for therapeutic and diagnostic agents. The article features detailed therapeutic applications of liposomes based on routes of administration and specific disease conditions. Diagnostic applications of liposomes for improving the efficiency of available techniques to treat diseases such as cancer are also discussed. Liposomes are thus reviewed as multifaceted nanovesicular carriers with potential therapeutic and diagnostic medical applications. The prospective multifunctional application of combining imaging functionality with therapeutic agents in a single liposome for diagnosis and real-time treatment is anticipated to be the future of liposomal formulations.