Interaction of insulin, cholesterol-derivatized mannan, and carboxymethyl chitin with liposomes: a differential scanning calorimetry study

The interaction of drugs and polymers used to incorporate in or surface modify/coat the liposomes can affect the phase transition, fluidity and other physical properties as well as in vivo fate of vesicles. In this study, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to investigate changes in the temperature and the enthalpy of phase transition of liposomes of various electrical charges following interaction with carboxymethyl chitin (CM-chitin) as a hydrophilic polymer, cholesterol-derivatized mannan (CHM) as a hydrophilic polymer bearing a hydrophobic moiety, and insulin as a model peptide. The results indicated that insulin incorporation or polymers caused no significant change in the phase transition temperature (Tm) of liposomes. However, reduction in the enthalpy of the transition (DH°) following coating with CHM supports an anchoring mechanism to the bilayer by the polymer, whereas no change or little increase in the DH° after coating with carboxymethyl chitin suggests no significant interaction or electrostatic weak interactions of polymer with liposomes. The DSC data of liposome-polymer interaction may be suggestive of changes in membrane fluidity, drug release, and possibly the behavior of liposomes in biological milieu.