Neutral and anionic liposomeencapsulated hemoglobin: Effect of postinserted poly(ethylene glycol)-distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine on distribution and circulation

To prepare long-circulating liposomes, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-lipid is usually mixed with other lipid components before vesicle formation. PEG-lipids can also be postinserted in the outer layer of liposomes after the preparation. In this study, PEG-distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine was incorporated by postinsertion technique into liposome-encapsulated hemoglo-bin (LEH) carrying neutral or negative charge. Postinsertion technique improved the encapsulation efficiency of hemoglobin from about 0.0017 to 0.017 (hemoglobin/phospholipid, molar ratio) for a similar lipid composition. Thus, neutral, anionic, PEG-neutral, and PEG-anionic LEHs were made and labeled with technetium-99m to follow their biodistribution. A small dose of LEH (15 mg of phospholipid) was injected intrave-nously in rabbits, and its distribution was monitored by bloo