Effect of cholesterol into liposome on the stabilization of incorporated retinol

To investigate the effect of cholesterol in liposome on the stability of incorporated retinol, the physico-chemical experiments for various amounts of cholesterol-containing liposomes were performed. Liposome with retinol containing cholesterol was prepared as multilamella vesicles(MLVs) by dehydration/rehydration method. The incorporation efficiency of retinol into liposome was maximized as 99.31 % at 50:50 (phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol) at pH 9. The stability of incorporated retinol at low storage temperature was enhanced with increasing cholesterol content than at high storage temperature. For example, incorporated retinol in liposome at glycine buffer(pH 9} was degraded slowly during storage at 4. The degradation of retinol in liposomes was slower at pH 9 than at pH 7. These results supported that cholesterol in liposome increased largely the stability of incorporated retinol.