posted on 2016-10-31, 00:00authored byLauri Viitala, Adam M. Maley, H. W.
Millie Fung, Robert M. Corn, Tapani Viitala, Lasse Murtomäki
Liposomes
are small vesicles that can be used in various targeting
applications as carrier vehicles. In this paper, we show that real-time
surface plasmon resonance imaging microscopy (SPRI microscopy) can
be used to detect diffraction patterns of these singular vesicles
in water phase at room temperature and without any additives. The
diffraction pattern intensities, related to the particle size, are
shown to follow the log-normal distribution in a cumulative distribution
function (CDF) that is very well in accordance with the normal size
distribution of liposomes prepared with the extrusion method. In addition,
this distribution is further analyzed to determine the number of gold
nanoparticle (GNP) encapsulated liposomes in a set of liposomal adsorption
events. Thus, we obtain the encapsulation efficiency and present a
method to study the intrinsic properties of liposomes and other soft
nanomaterials.