The targeting of phospholipid liposomes to bacteria.

Phospholipid liposomes have been prepared from phospholipid mixtures including dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine/phosphatidylinositol (DPPC/PI) and DPPC/dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPPC/DPPG) mixtures and targeted to adsorbed biofilms of the skin-associated bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis and Proteus vulgaris and the oral bacterium Streptococcus sanguis. The effects of time, liposome concentration and density of bacteria in the biofilm have been studied in detail for Staphylococcus epidermidis. The targeting (as assessed by the apparent monolayer coverage of the biofilms by liposomes) to the biofilms was found to be sensitive to the mol% of PI and DPPG in the liposomes and optimum levels of PI were found for targeting to each bacterium.

Targeting and delivery of bactericide to adsorbed oral bacteria by use of proteoliposomes.

Proteoliposomes having surface-bound succinylated concanavalin A (s-conA) have been prepared from a range of phospholipid mixtures by sonication (SUV) and reverse phase evaporation (REV) covering a range of size (weight-average diameter (dw)) from approx. 35 to 310 nm and weight-average number of protein molecules per liposomes (Pw) from approx. 50 to 3000.

The effect of surface-bound protein on the permeability of proteoliposomes.

Proteoliposomes have been prepared from mixtures of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylinositol by sonication (SUV) and reverse phase evaporation (REV) and conjugated with succinyl concanavalin A (sConA). The proteoliposomes were characterised in terms of size and composition and covered a range of size (weight-average diameter) from approx. 80 to 300 nm and surface-bound sConA (weight-average number of protein molecules per liposome) from approx.