Abstract
Liposomes are reputed colloidal vehicles that hold the promise for targeted delivery of anti-tubercular drugs (ATBDs) to alveolar macrophages that host Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the costly status of liposome technology, particularly due to the use of special manufacture equipment and expensive lipid materials, may preclude wider developments of therapeutic liposomes. In this study, we report efficient encapsulation of a complex system, consisting of isoniazid-hydrazone-phthalocyanine conjugate (Pc-INH) in gamma-cyclodextrin (γ-CD), in liposomes using crude soybean lecithin by means of a simple organic solvent-free method, heating method (HM). Inclusion complexation was performed in solution and solid-state, and evaluated using UV-Vis, magnetic circular dichroism, (1)H NMR, diffusion ordered spectroscopy and FT-IR. The HM-liposomes afforded good encapsulation efficiency (71%) for such a large Pc-INH/γ-CD complex (PCD) system. The stability and properties of the PCD-HM-liposomes look encouraging; with particle size 240 nm and Zeta potential -57 mV that remained unchanged upon storage at 4 °C for 5 weeks. The release study performed in different pH media revealed controlled release profiles that went up to 100% at pH 4.4, from about 40% at pH 7.4. This makes PCD-liposomes a promising system for site-specific ATBD delivery, and a good example of simple liposomal encapsulation of large hydrophobic compounds.