ABSTRACT
Liposomes can be divided into two main classes: Conventional liposomes — small unilamellar liposomes (SUVs), large unilamellar liposomes (LUVs), and multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) (see Reference 8) — and giant vesicles. The former aggregates, the conventional liposomes, have sizes between 25 nm and 10 µm and their aqueous pools are typically in the range of 50 to 200 nm. In contrast to these relatively small aggregates, giant liposomes are aggregates that are often larger than 10 µm and can be visualized by conventional optical microscopy. Giant liposomes were described for the first time by Reeves and Dowben
in 1969. Among the several methods that allow the preparation of giant vesicles, such as slow rehydration of lipid films, dialysis, or reverse phase evaporation, one of the most efficient methods for the preparation of uni-or oligolamellar giant vesicles has been turned out to be electroformation, first described by Angelova and Dimitrov in 1986.
