Remotely triggered liposome release by near-infrared light absorption via hollow gold nanoshells.

ABSTRACT: An elusive goal for systemic drug delivery is to provide both spatial and temporal control of drug release. Liposomes have been evaluated as drug delivery vehicles for decades, but their clinical significance has been limited by slow release or poor availability of the encapsulated drug. Here we show that near-complete liposome release can be initiated within seconds by irradiating hollow gold nanoshells (HGNs) with a near-infrared (NIR) pulsed laser. Our findings reveal that different coupling methods such as having the HGNs tethered to, encapsulated within, or suspended freely outside the liposomes, all triggered liposome release but with different levels of efficiency. For the underlying content release mechanism, our experiments suggest that the microbubble formation and collapse due t

SUBMITTER: Wu G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2593911 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature