Study of the Charge Distribution on Liposome Particles Aerosolized by Air-Jet Atomization

Abstract Background: Air-jet atomization is a common technique used for the generation of therapeutic aerosols from liposome suspensions for drug delivery to the lungs. Although the technique does not use an electric field, the aerosols generated by this technique are still charged, and this may affect respiratory drug deposition. Methods: In this study, the charge distribution of liposomes aerosolized by an air-jet atomizer was measured using a tandem differential mobility analyzer (TDMA) technique. The liposomes, composed of a mixture of two amphiphilic lipids and cholesterol, were synthesized by the dehydration–rehydration vesicle method. The effect of the precursor suspension properties, such as medium composition, pH, conductivity, and lipid mass concentration, on the charge distribution of the liposome aerosols was studied. Results and Conclusions: Results showed that the atomized liposomes have a bipolar charge distribution, and the number-fraction of charged liposome aerosols was influenced strong...