Les liposomes : description, fabrication et applications

Liposomes: description, preparation and applications. Liposomes are spherical vesicles with a diameter ranging from 20 nm to a few thousands nm. These vesicles consist of one or several bilayers which separate an intravesicular from an external medium. Within these bilayers, like in the biological membrane, motion of phospholipids is observed. Liposomes are easy to prepare. The hydration of a phospholipidic film leads to the formation of multilamellar liposomes. Additional steps are required to form unilamellar liposomes. Liposomes are used for industrial purposes, such as the targeting of cosmetological compounds. They may also be used as therapy vectors, for drug delivery or as vaccine supports. Liposomes are good models for membranes and are widely used for improving the understanding of biological events that occur in cell membranes, such as permeability, fluidity, protein anchoring and fusion of membranes. This paper mainly emphasizes membrane fusion.