AI Article Synopsis

  • (+)-Usnic acid (UA) is a natural compound with pharmacological properties but has low water solubility, leading to its incorporation into liposomes for study.
  • The research evaluated how different phospholipid structures and loading methods impacted UA's entrapment efficiency, which ranged from 80-100 molar percentage through passive loading.
  • Results showed varying liposome formulations could effectively deliver UA to Staphylococcus aureus, with some formulations demonstrating a minimum inhibitory concentration of 8 μg/mL, highlighting the importance of lipid structure on drug release efficiency.

Article Abstract

(+)-Usnic acid (UA) is a natural substance that displays pharmacological activity, but it is barely soluble in water, so it was included in liposomes in order to study its properties. First, the effects of phospholipid structure and loading methodology on UA entrapment efficacy were evaluated. Then, the physicochemical and biological properties (UA delivery efficacy to Staphylococcus aureus bacterial cells) of different liposome formulations containing structurally related amphiphiles derived from L-prolinol were fully investigated. Entrapment efficiency of UA with passive loading by incubation was 80-100 molar percentage, which is related to lipophilicity of the drug and to the packing and fluidity of the bilayer. Some of the investigated formulations show the potential of UA in delivery systems (minimum inhibitory concentration of liposomal UA: 8 μg/mL) and even subtle variations of the molecular structure of lipids can significantly affect the liposomes' physicochemical properties and efficiency of drug release.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cplu.202000125DOI Listing

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