Keywords

Resistive pulse; liposomes; vesicles; nanopore

Abstract

In this work, the properties of the liposomes, the artificially created vesicles by various methods, are explored by a resistive pulse method using micropipettes. The fact that vesicles are fundamental in the wide range of functionalities they fulfill as organelles strengthen the desire of understanding the properties of them. The motivation of this work comes from the significant roles that liposomes play in the development of targeted drug delivery systems. Among other significant variables, the size of liposomes is found to be one of the dominating parameters in liposome based drug delivery, and the correlation between liposome size and delivery efficiency is discussed. To help improving the size evaluation ability, a few mainstream methods for liposome size detection and measurements are reviewed. As a reliable and accessible alternative method for liposomes detection, the resistive pulse method is introduced and the measurement on liposomes size change upon pH gradient was performed using this method. With our current liposome composition, we found the size increases as environmental pH increases. Further investigation is performed with vesicular pH=6, 7, and 8, respectively. Lastly, the stability of the small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) was studied via resistive pulse method, by monitoring the size change of 50nm liposomes as function of time. A significant size change in freshly prepared 50nm liposomes is recorded. This information will provide invaluable knowledge for targeting tumor with tight tissues, where small size liposomes are needed.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2015

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Chow, Lee

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Physics

Degree Program

Sciences

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0005826

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0005826

Language

English

Release Date

August 2015

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences; Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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Included in

Physics Commons

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