Active encapsulation of imiquimod in liposomes with dendrimers

Charles University, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmaceutical Technology Supervisor: Dr. Georgios Paraskevopoulos, Ph.D. Consultant: Eleni Panoutsopoulou Author: Dina Manna Title of the thesis: Active Encapsulation of Imiquimod in Liposomes with Dendrimers One of the main obstacles to tackle when dealing with drug delivery systems such as liposomes is efficiently loading adequate concentration of active ingredient. Drug encapsulation in liposomes occurs in two possible methods: passive and active loading. Passive drug loading involves the capture of drugs into the liposome whilst it is being prepared. Active loading however is the passage of drug through liposome's phospholipid bilayer after the liposome is fully formed. This method has been shown to be effective for low molecular weight ionizable active components and it was hypothesized to be an effective method of encapsulation of imiquimod. IMQ is an imidazole quinolone drug known for its extreme hydrophobicity and basicity and have been used for skin diseases (e.g. skin cancer). During our approach, liposomes were prepared using the classical thin layer method while the lipids were hydrated with aqueous solution of in-house synthesized first-generation dendrimer of two different concentrations (5 mM and 10 mM). Once..