Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 115 (2014) 197–204 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces jou rn al hom epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/colsurfb Influence of lecithin–lipid composition on physico-chemical properties of nanoliposomes loaded with a hydrophobic molecule Lynda Bouarab a , Behnoush Maherani a , Azadeh Kheirolomoom b , Mahmoud Hasan a , Bahar Aliakbarian c , Michel Linder a , Elmira Arab-Tehrany a,∗ a Université de Lorraine, Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Biomolécules, 2, Avenue de la Forêt de Haye, F-54504 Vandoeuvre-Lès-Nancy Cedex, France b Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, 451 East Health Sciences Drive, Davis, CA 95616, USA c Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering (DICCA), University of Genoa, Via Opera Pia 15, 16145 Genova, Italy a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 21 July 2013 Received in revised form 14 November 2013 Accepted 15 November 2013 Available online 24 November 2013 Keywords: Liposome Cinnamic acid Encapsulation Antioxidant Physico-chemical characterization a b s t r a c t In this work, we studied the effect of nanoliposome composition based on phospholipids of docosa- hexaenoic acid (PL-DHA), salmon and soya lecithin, on physico-chemical characterization of vector. Cinnamic acid was encapsulated as a hydrophobic molecule in nanoliposomes made of three differ- ent lipid sources. The aim was to evaluate the influence of membrane lipid structure and composition on entrapment efficiency and membrane permeability of cinnamic acid. These properties are important for active molecule delivery. In addition, size, electrophoretic mobility, phase transition temperature, elasticity and membrane fluidity were measured before and after encapsulation. The results showed a correlation between the size of the nanoliposome and the entrapment. The entrap- ment efficiency of cinnamic acid was found to be the highest in liposomes prepared from salmon lecithin. The nanoliposomes composed of salmon lecithin presented higher capabilities as a carrier for cinnamic acid encapsulation. These vesicles also showed a high stability which in turn increases the membrane rigidity of nanoli- posome as evaluated by their elastic properties, membrane fluidity and phase transition temperature. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Among different techniques of encapsulation, nanoliposomes have become very versatile tools in biology, biochemistry and medicine because of their enormous diversity of structure and com- position. The main constituents of liposomes are phospholipids, which are amphiphilic molecules containing water soluble, hydrophilic head section and a lipid-soluble, hydrophobic tail section. This property of phospholipids gives liposomes unique properties, such as self-sealing, in aqueous media and make them an ideal carrier system with applications in different fields including food, cosmet- ics, pharmaceutics, and tissue engineering [1]. Liposomes were first made synthetically in England in 1961 by Alec D. Bangham, who found that phospholipids combined with water form a sphere because of their unique properties. Liposomes are spherical, closed structures, composed of curved lipid bilayers, which enclose part of the surrounding solvent into their interior [2]. Due to their biocompatibility and capability of incorporating ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: elmira.arab-tehrany@univ-lorraine.fr (E. Arab-Tehrany). both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs, liposomes have been inves- tigated as parenteral drug carrier systems and more recently as transdermal drug delivery systems [2]. The drug delivery properties of liposomes are largely affected by the physico-chemical characteristics of the lipid bilayer, which are determined by factors such as the lipid composition, the particle size and the drug loading [3]. The preparation method of nanoliposomes has some control over the size range (as narrow as possible) and, polydispersity index (as low as possible). By considering these parameters, the extrusion technique was chosen to prepare liposomes. Extrusion is a com- mon method for nanoliposomes production in a laboratory scale and there are numerous reports on liposome preparation with this technique to obtain small particle size [4,5]. Currently, in vitro and animal studies indicate that n-3 PUFAs suppress carcinogenesis. Several studies present a new insight on effectiveness of marine phospholipids for suppression of colon carcinogenesis to investigate growth inhibition and apoptosis inducing effects of n-3 PUFA in the form of marine phosphatidyl- choline (PC) on chemically induced (1,2-dimethylhydrazine) colon cancer in rats [6]. Marine lecithin from salmon (Salmosalar) contains a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially 0927-7765/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2013.11.034