Effects of liposomes on cultured cell growth

We examined the effects of liposomal size, charge and cholesterol content on growth of NIH3T3 cells. Large doses of liposomes were found to inhibit the cell growth. Among the liposomes containing the charged compounds, stearylaminecontaining liposomes completely inhibited cell growth at 100 μM and were more potent in inhibition of cell growth than those with negative charged compounds. The cholesterol-rich and small unilamellar vesicles were more inhibitory for cell growth compared to the cholesterol-poor and multilamellar ones. The binding assay of liposomes with cells showed a good correlation with the degree of cell growth inhibition, These results indicate that the direct effect of liposomes should be considered for analysis of the effectiveness of the drug-containing liposomes.