Remote loading of doxorubicin into liposomes by transmembrane pH gradient to reduce toxicity toward H9c2 cells

The use of doxorubicin (DOX) is limited by its dose-dependent cardiotoxicity. Entrapped DOX in liposome has been shown to reduce cardiotoxicity. Results showed that about 92% of the total drug was encapsulated in liposome. The release experiments showed a weak DOX leakage in both culture medium and in PBS, more than 98% and 90% of the encapsulated DOX respectively was still retained in liposomes after 24 h of incubation. When the release experiments were carried out in phosphate buffer pH5.3, the leakage of DOX from liposomes reached 37% after 24 h of incubation. Evaluation of cellular uptake of the liposomal DOX indicated the possible endocytosis of liposomes because the majority of visible fluorescence of DOX was mainly in the cytoplasm, whereas the nuclear compartment showed a weak intensity. When using unloaded fluorescent-liposomes, the fluorescence was absent in nuclei suggests that liposomes cannot cross the nuclear membrane. MTT assay and measurement of LDH release suggest that necrosis is the form of cellular death predominates in H9c2 cells exposed to high doses of DOX, while for weak doses apoptosis could be the predominate form. Entrapped DOX reduced significantly DOX toxicity after 3 and 6 h of incubation, but after 20 h entrapped DOX is more toxic than free one.