Liposomes

Chapter One is addressed to a comprehensive revision of the bibliography regarding the emergence of liposomes and the first steps in their design, the type of systems (components and structures), their classification and properties. Chapter Two discusses the possibility of creating living 'synthetic' cells. Chapter Three provides an overview of the development and application of liposomes in biomedical sciences, with special emphasis on recent advances in the investigation of multifunctional liposomes that target cells and cellular organelles with a single delivery system. In Chapter Four, the authors review the mechanisms of drug transport through the BBB using liposomes, and the design strategies for optimum liposomal properties. In Chapter Five, the development rationales and structural types of pH-sensitive liposomes is discussed Chapter Six presents the characteristic, classification and preparation methods of liposomes. To develop liposomal drug delivery system, functional liposomes including antibody-conjugating liposomes known as immunoliposomes and stimuli-triggered liposomes such as pH- and thermo-sensitive liposomes have been investigated in Chapter Seven. Chapter Eight covers the use of thermosensitive liposomes for drug delivery and cancer therapy, because the side-effects of anticancer drugs are restrained and drug release can be controlled in combination with local hyperthermia. In Chapter Nine, the authors summarize the potential of OMLs as a novel adjuvant and antigen delivery vehicle for induction of encased antigen-specific strong T cell immunity. Chapter Ten presents the recent advances of liposomes in drug and vaccine delivery and shed light to the application of DSC to thermodynamic characterization of liposomal delivery platforms. Chapter Eleven focuses on various liposomal delivery systems that are currently being explored to overcome the anatomical and physiological obstacles to improve the delivery efficiency of BNCT to brain glioma cells.