TABLE 4.
Common lipid types, their characteristics, and uses.
| Lipid type | Characteristic and use |
|---|---|
| DOPE | |
| (1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine) | Zwitterionic, unsaturated phospholipid |
| Common in cationic liposomes | |
| (Mahato, Smith and Rolland, 1999; Prata et al., 2008) | Promotes cargo release by disrupting the endosome membrane |
| DSPE | |
| (1,2-Distearoyl-3-sn-glycerophosphoethanolamine) | Saturated analog of DOPE |
| Che et al. (2015) | DSPE-PEG is popular in lipid formulations |
| POPC | |
| (1-Palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-glycero-3-phosphocholine) | Monosaturated fatty acid composition mimics mammalian phospholipid composition |
| (Cheung et al., 2018; Hasani-Sadrabadi et al., 2018) | Used to model CM |
| DSPC | |
| (1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) | Zwitterionic, saturated phospholipid |
| Hou et al. (2021) | Widely used in forming lipid NPs for mRNA delivery as cylindrical geometry stabilizes the structure of lipid NP |
| DPPC | |
| (1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) | Produces temperature-sensitive liposomes (phase transition temperature at ∼41°C) |
| (Kono and Takagishi, 2004; Li et al., 2020) | Lung surfactant, thus used in inhalation delivery |
| DOTAP | |
| (1,2-Dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane) | Cationic |
| Pedroso de Lima et al. (2001) | Popular in gene delivery |
| DOPS | |
| (1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine) | Anionic at pH 7.4 |
| (Lentz, 2003; Gaul et al., 2015) | Incorporates in model platelet membranes |
| Ionizable lipids | Neutral at physiological pH and positive at low pH |
| (Hou et al., 2021) | Suitable for drug delivery applications |
| Cholesterol | Regulates cohesiveness, fluidity, and permeability of the lipid membrane |
| (Ruwizhi and Aderibigbe, 2020; Nakhaei et al., 2021) | Improves the thermal and plasma stability of liposomes |