In these entire procedures, high product losses may be generated, especially if clogging of the extrusion membranes occurs, which may cause technical

limitations with large-scale production of high-priced goods. 4. CHIR99021 price methods Based on Replacement of Organic Solvents by Aqueous Media The liposome preparation methods described Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in this section have in common that organic solvents, MEK162 novartis either water miscible or immiscible, are replaced by an aqueous solution. This replacement is either performed by injection of the lipid carrying organic solution into the aqueous phase—the injection methods—or by stepwise addition of aqueous phase to the organic phase, in particular ethanol—the proliposome-liposome method. In addition, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the emulsification methods, namely, the reverse-phase evaporation method and the double emulsion technique, are based on the replacement of a water-immiscible solvent by an aqueous phase, thus forming liposomes with high encapsulation rates of hydrophilic as well as lipid phase soluble substances. 4.1. The Ethanol Injection Method This technique was first reported in the

early 1970s by Batzri and Korn [47] as one of the first alternatives for the preparation of SUVs without sonication. By the immediate dilution of the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical ethanol in the aqueous phase, the lipid molecules precipitate and form bilayer planar fragments [48] which themselves form into liposomal systems, thereby encapsulating aqueous phase. Batzri and Korn Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical performed their experiments with a very low lipid concentration resulting in small liposomes and poor encapsulation efficiency. The preparation parameters influencing liposome size, size distribution, and drug encapsulation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical efficiency were investigated in more detail by Kremer et al. in 1977 [49]. They determined the lipid concentration in ethanol as the only liposome formation influencing parameter. Neither stirring

rate of the aqueous phase nor injection velocity had a significant influence on liposome size and size distribution. Another modified ethanol injection method was developed by Maitani et al. [50] which is more or less a combination of the ethanol injection method, the proliposome method, and the reverse-phase evaporation technique. This method has many advantages as the technique is in principle easy to scale up, and ethanol is a very harmless Brefeldin_A solvent, accepted by the authorities also for injectables at a maximum of 0.1% [51]. Some other solvents might also be used, but one has to keep in mind the regulations for residual solvents classified into different categories by the European or US Pharmacopoeia. Stano et al. [52] emphasize the advantage of preparing monomodal distributed liposomes in the size range of about 100nm and furthermore point out the suitability of the entrapment of lipophilic substances.