Abstract
As a first step in the development of novel liver-specific contrast agents using ethosomes for computed tomography (CT) imaging applications, we entrapped iodine within ethosomes, which are phospholipid vesicular carriers containing relatively high alcohol concentrations, synthesized using several types of alcohol, such as methanol, ethanol, and propanol. The iodine containing ethosomes that were prepared using methanol showed the smallest vesicle size (392nm) and the highest CT density (1107 HU). The incorporation of cholesterol into the ethosomal contrast agents improved the stability of the ethosomes but made the vesicle size large. The ethosomal contrast agents were taken up well by macrophage cells and showed no cellular toxicity. The results demonstrated that ethosomes containing iodine, as prepared in this study, have potential as contrast agents for applications in CT imaging.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 124-129 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Liposome Research |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 Jun |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors report no conflicts of interests. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article. This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Korea government (NRF-2012R1A1A2004659) and Hongik University Research Fund.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Pharmaceutical Science