Learn More About The Liposomes

By Kate McMahon


Liposomes are vesicles. They are man made. They are made up of a double layer of lipids. They serve very many functions. Some of them include administering food nutrients and also therapeutic drugs.

They have different components. These components are mainly chemicals or biological substances that are extracted from the biological membranes. They include phospholipids. These phospholipids are rich in phosphatidylcholine. They can also contain surfactant substances such as phosphatidylethanolamine that is derived from eggs.

Their surfaces are produced in such a method that they can attach themselves to the body tissues and organs. These tissues might be unhealthy or even healthy. The substances which occur upon their coverings that aid them in adhering to the body tissues are entitled ligands.

They are divided to different categories. The classes depend on the intricacy of the materials. They involve small unilamellar vesicles, cochleate vesicles and the multilamellar vesicles. Each class serves a particular role and contains a different structure.

The vesicles were discovered in around 1961 by Alec Bangham. This was a British hematologist. The discovery was made in Cambridge at an institute called Babraham institute. The name liposome is of Greek origin. It simply means a body that is rich in fats.

The membranes of those vesicles are not soluble within water. This implies that they cannot allow substances which might dissolve in water to penetrate through them. Nevertheless, particles which do not generally dissolve in water straightforwardly pass through those membranes. Such substances comprise fats or lipids.

The vesicles contain aqueous solutions at their center. An aqueous solution contains salts that are dissolved in water. Such salts are said to be hydrophilic. Therefore, the vesicles are able to carry molecules that are able to dissolve in water and also those that cannot dissolve in water.

They simply release the molecules they carry. They achieve this because of the ligands found on their surfaces. The ligands help them to attach to the cells of target. After attaching, they then open up and release their components.

The vesicles assist in different departments of medicine. They assist in conveying a broad array of nutrients, molecules and substances to body cells. Those comprise nutritional supplements plus again drugs which are utilized to cure various illnesses. They are further used to convey DNA products.

They also help for the management of various tumors. They may be used to deliver drugs to the malignant cells within the body. This hence broadens their application within medicine.

Manufacturing them depends on several factors. Such factors include the size of the particles that are to be carried, the solubility of the materials, the number and also the medium to be used among other factors. This therefore means that manufacturing them is a manual and complicated process.

Researches are continuing to produce immune resistant molecules. These are vesicles which might not be destroyed and sensed by cells of immune system. That shall raise their lifespan within human body hence promoting their effectiveness. Liposomes are thus vital biological man made molecules. They aid greatly within numerous fields in health and also medicine in general.




About the Author: