SUVs — small unilamellar vesicles

Liposomes — These are synthetic lipid vesicles consisting of one or more phospholipid bilayers they resemble cell membranes and can incorporate various active molecules. Liposomes are spherical, range in size from 0.1 to 500 pm, and are thermodynamically unstable. They are built from hydrated thin lipid films that become fluid and form spontaneously multilameUar vesicles (MLVs). Using soni-cation, freeze-thaw cycles, or mechanical energy (extrusion), MLVs are converted to small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) with diameters in the range of 15 to 50 nm. ... 

Liposomes are formed due to the amphiphilic character of lipids which assemble into bilayers by the force of hydrophobic interaction. Similar assemblies of lipids form microspheres when neutral lipids, such as triglycerides, are dispersed with phospholipids. Liposomes are conventionally classified into three groups by their morphology, i.e., multilamellar vesicle (MLV), small unilamellar vesicle (SUV), and large unilamellar vesicle (LUV). This classification of liposomes is useful when liposomes are used as models for biomembranes. However, when liposomes are used as capsules for drugs, size and homogeneity of the liposomes are more important than the number of lamellars in a liposome. Therefore, "sized" liposomes are preferred. These are prepared by extrusion through a polycarbonate... 

APsuv Absorption potential measured in small unilamellar vesicles (SUV)... 

Here, APsuv is the absorption potential measured from the distribution in small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) at pH 6.8, the solubility was measured at pH 6.8 in simulated intestinal fluid, V is the volume of intestinal fluid, and dose is a mean single oral dose. Liposome partitioning is only partly correlated with octanol/water distribution. 

Fig. 9 Surface modification of cells with ssDNA-PEG-lipid. (a) Real-time monitoring of PEG-lipid incorporation into a supported lipid membrane by SPR. (r) A suspension of small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) of egg yolk lecithin (70 pg/mL) was applied to a CH3-SAM surface. A PEG-lipid solution (100 pg/mL) was then applied, (ii) Three types of PEG-lipids were compared PEG-DMPE (C14), PEG-DPPE (C16), and PEG-DSPE (C18) with acyl chains of 14, 16, and 18 carbons, respectively, (b) Confocal laser scanning microscopic image of an CCRF-CEM cell displays immobilized FITC-oligo(dA)2o hybridized to membrane-incorporated oligo(dT)20-PEG-lipid. (c) SPR sensorigrams of interaction between oligo(dA)2o-urokinase and the oligo (dT)2o-PEG-lipid incorporated into the cell surface, (i) BSA solution was applied to block nonspecific sites on the oligo(dT)20-incorporated substrate, (ii) Oligo(dA)20-urokinase (solid line) or oligo(dT)20-urokinase (dotted line) was applied...

Although detailed protocols for preparation of small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) are published [80-82], their preparation is more time-demanding and complicated. In contrast, bicelles are prepared similarly to micelles with little effort. 

Entrapment of plasmid DNA and/or protein into liposomes entails the preparation of a lipid film from which multilamellar vesicles and, eventually, small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) are produced. SUVs are then mixed with the plasmid DNA and/or protein destined for entrapment and dehydrated. The dry cake is subsequently broken up and rehydrated to generate multilamellar dehydration-rehydration vesicles (DRV) containing the plasmid DNA and/or protein. On centrifugation, liposome-entrapped vaccines are separated from nonentrapped materials. When required, the DRV are reduced in size by microfluidization in the presence or absence of nonentrapped materials or by employing an alternative method (7) of DRV production, which utilizes sucrose (see below). 

Figure 9.21 Various types of vesicles/liposomes, the so-called small unilamellar vesicles, SUV the large unilamellar vesicles, LUV the multilamellar vesicles, MLV...

Fig. 52a-c. Scheme of the fusion process of giant liposomes and the formation of small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) at the interface, a) lipid bilayers in contact b) pores generated by electric breakdown and lipid reorientation forming SUVs c) reconstitution of lipid membranes formation of a fused giant liposome and SUVs . 

Liposomes used for transfection are either large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) of 100 to 200 nm in diameter or small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) of 20 to 100 nm. Liu et al.124 have reported that for a given liposome composition, multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) of 300 to 700 nm in diameter exhibit higher transfection efficiency than SUVs. However, more recent studies on the nature of the liposome-DNA complex (or lipoplex) revealed that lipoplexes from SUVs or MLVs do not differ significantly in size. On the other hand, the composition of the medium, not the type of the liposome used in the preparation of the lipoplex, plays a key role in determining the final size of the complex. And the transfection efficiency is also shown to depend on the final size of the complexes but not the type of the liposome.125... 

The binding of pyranine to phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) vesicles as a function of the probe and electrolyte concentration has been investigated [103], The binding of the probe to the internal leaflet of lecithin small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) was found to be larger than that to the external leaflet. The addition of salt up to 2 M did not prevent binding, even at low probe concentrations. The ground-state reprotonation rate constant was found to depend on the probe content per vesicle. 

Tab. 4.1 Partitioning of ionizable drugs (see pKa) into small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) of DOPC and into octanol for uncharged and charged species, determined by the potentiometric titration technique, compared with their intestinal absorption (%) at the doses indicated. (Adapted from Tab. 2 of ref. 16)... 

Artificial biomembrane mimetic model systems are used to characterize peptide-membrane interactions using a wide range of methods. Herein, we present the use of selected membrane model systems to investigate peptide-membrane interactions. We describe methods for the preparation of various membrane mimetic media. Our applications will focus on small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) and large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) as well as on media more suited for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques, micelles, and fast-tumbling two-component bilayered micelles (bicelles). 

Liposomes occur in nature, but can also be easily synthesized in the laboratory. Depending on the preparation method used, whioh influenoes their size — in relation to the number of bilayer shells — and physical properties, liposomes are olassified as small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs, 25-50 nm), large unilamellar vesioles (LUVs, 100 nm to 1 pm), giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs, 1.0-200 pm) multilamellar vesioles (MLVs, 0.1-15 pm), and multi-vesicular vesicles (MWs, 1.6-10.5 pm) the last consists of several small vesicles. Bicelles, which contain surfactant molecules in the lipid bilayer, constitute a special type of liposome. 

Based on size and lamellarity, liposomes can be categorized into four groups (175, 205) (as indicated in Figure 8.22) (i) multilanellar vesicles (MLVs) (ii) large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) (iii) small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) and (iv) intermediate-size unilamellar vesicles (lUVs), which are also called reverse-phase evaporation vesicles (REV). 

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