Rapid separation of liposomes using ultrafiltration

Summary

In order to make effective use of liposomes in studying biological systems, rapid and efficient methods are needed to separate liposomes from their unencapsulated contents. The method of partition ultrafiltration was used to monitor the release of a radioactive marker, tritium-labelled cytosine arabinoside (³H-Ara-C), from temperature-sensitive liposomes. Other physical techniques, dialysis, chromatography and ultracentrifugation, were also employed, and their effectiveness for separating ³H-Ara-C from the liposomes was studied. The results show that ultrafiltration is superior to the other physical techniques examined.