Active Drug Loading of Microfluidic-synthesized Liposomes

In this paper, an established method for microfluidic-directed formation of liposomes is combined with in-line sample purification and active drug loading for one-step, continuous flow synthesis of small, nearly monodisperse vesicles containing high concentrations of stably-loaded compounds. Through microfluidic buffer exchange, the presented technique demonstrates the ability to establish a change of 3 or more pH units within 80 seconds, followed by the immediate introduction of a drug analog which is remotely loaded into vesicles at drug:lipid ratios which exceed traditional bulk-scale processes. The result is a “pharmacy-on-a-chip”: a microfluidic technique for in-line formation of liposomes containing actively loaded compounds.