DIALYSIS PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BILAYER VESICLES

摘要

A process is provided herein for producing bilayer vesicles from a colloidal solution comprising mixed micelles of a bilayer-forming substance and a detergent. The process comprises removing the detergent from the micelle-containing colloidal solution by means of flow-through dialysis so that the colloidal solution is dialyzed against a dialysis liquid in a chamber whose walls are at least partially formed by a semi-permeable membrane. In such dialysis, the dialysis liquid is moved along the outer side of the semi-permeable membrane at a velocity such that the detergent concentration in the dialysis liquid, on at least 90% of the active surface of the membrane, is at most 10% of the detergent concentration in the micelle solution in contact with the other side of the membrane. In addition, a homogeneous detergent concentration is maintained in the micelle solution by the movement of the micelle solution. The bilayer vesicles produced thereby do not suffer from the undesired properties of inclusion of organic solvents, degradation of the bilayer forming substance, the formation of multi-lamellar structures and the formation of nonhomogeneous sized vesicles.