Fabrication and characterization of contact lenses bearing surface-immobilized layers of intact liposomes

Intact liposomes were immobilized onto soft contact lenses. In the first step, polyethylenimine was covalently bounded onto the hydroxyl groups available on the surface of a commercial contact lens (Hioxifilcon B). Then, NHS-PEG-biotin molecules were bounded onto the surface amine groups by carbodiimide chemistry. Neutr-Avidin were bounded onto the PEG-biotin layer. Liposomes containing PEG-biotinylated lipids were docked onto the surface-immobilized NeutrAvidin. Consecutive addition of further NeutrAvidin and liposome layers enabled fabrication of multilayers. Multilayers of liposomes were also produced by exposing contact lenses coated with NeutrAvidin to liposome aggregates produced by the addition of free biotin in solution. XPS revealed the immobilization of the different layers. By blocking with excess biotin surface-immobilized NeutrAvidin on contact lenses bearing PEG-biotin layers produced under cloud point conditions, ELISA showed that the docking of NeutrAvidin was dependent on biotin-NeutrAvidin affinity binding, with little evidence for nonspecific physisorption; however, it was not possible to differentiate specific versus nonspecific binding of NeutrAvidin attached onto PEG-biotin layers grafted without cloud point conditions. AFM imaging revealed liposome sizes of 106 and 155 nm for layers of liposomes produced (i) by the consecutive addition of further NeutrAvidin and liposomes and (ii) by the exposure of NeutrAvidin-coated contact lenses to liposome aggregates, respectively. The release kinetics of a fluorescent dye demonstrated that intact liposomes had been immobilized onto contact lens surfaces. The stability of surface-immobilized liposomes onto contact lens surfaces showed temperature dependence. Surface-bound liposomes can be stored up to 1 month at 4 C with little release of their content. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.