The parameters of chlorin e6 and trimethylester of chlorin e6 incorporation and distribution in suspensions of unilamellar liposomes of DMPC, DPPC, and DSPC, as well as efficiency of the pigment redistribution from liposomes to cellular membranes have been studied. Determination of the fraction of pigments' fluorescence which is accessible to quenching by a watersoluble quencher indicates that for both chlorins the outer monolayer of the liposomal membrane is more populated than the inner one. Gel-liquid crystalline phase transition induces a shift of a part of the pigments' molecules toward the inner monolayer. By means of ultrafiltration technique it is shown that chlorins binding to liposomal membrane occurs as partitioning between water and lipid phases. The partition coefficient is affected strongly by the type of pigment, the phase state of the lipid bilayer. Similar results were obtained when the influence of the physical state of the lipid bilayer on the rate of chlorins redistribution from liposomes to cellular membrane was studied. These findings show that diffusive mobility of the sensitizer in suspensions of cellular and model membranes is a complex process which is dependent on structural features of both the pigment and its biological carriers.

Date Published: 12 January 1995
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 2325, Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer II, (12 January 1995); doi: 10.1117/12.199171

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2325:
Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer II
Daniel Brault; Giulio Jori; Johan Moan; Benjamin Ehrenberg, Editor(s)