• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.187-193
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• 2003

This study was aimed to formulate various phospholipid nanoparticles composed of different surfactants and to evaluate the deformability of the phospholipid vesicles as candidates of useful ultradeformable nanoparticles. In vitro deformability of the phospholipid nanoparticles was studied using an extruder under a certain pressure. The sizes of phospholipid nanoparticles, passed volumes, and concentrations of the phospholipids in suspensions before and after extrusion were measured. The deformability indexes were estimated by using passed volumes, sizes of phospholipid nanoparticles and concentrations of phospholipids. Conventional liposomes, placed under a certain pressure of an extruder, showed no passed volume indicating little deformability. Similar to conventional liposomes, phospholipid nanoparticles containing surfactants such as sodium taurocholate, Myrj 45, or Myrj 53 showed little deformability. In contrast, phospholipid nanoparticles composed of Tween 20, Triton X-100, or sodium deoxycholate showed higher deformability indexes than others. Taken together, the deformability of phospholpid nanoparticles could be significantly affected by the type of surfactants. Moreover, these results suggest that the deformability of phospholipid nanoparticles could be modulated by surfactants.