In vivo fate of large unilamellar sphingomyelin-cholesterol liposomes after intraperitoneal and intravenous injection into rats.

We investigated the fate of intraperitoneally and intravenously injected reverse phase evaporation vesicles of fairly uniform size (100-200 nm) with respect to blood clearance, tissue distribution and integrity in vivo. The vesicles are composed of sphingomyelin and cholesterol in a molar ratio 3 : 2 and contain 125I-labeled poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) in the aqueous compartment. It is shown that following an intraperitoneal injection the vesicles are transported intact, and not associated with cells, from the peritoneal cavity to the blood and are subsequently taken up mainly by liver and spleen, where, particularly in liver, the phospholipid is partially metabolized. After an intraperitoneal injection the rate of vesicle-uptake by liver and spleen is reduced by a factor of 2-3 compared to the rate of vesicle-uptake by liver and spleen following an intravenous injection. The peritoneal cavity functions as a reservoir of vesicles for some hours. The rates of blood clearance and uptake of the vesicles by liver and spleen appear to be slower than that found for vesicles of different lipid composition.