Diestearoylphosphatidylcholine

Potassium antimony (III) tartrate hydrate, here referred to as SbIII, and Diestearoylphosphatidylcholine were obtained from Sigma (Sigma-Aldrich, USA). A commercially available sterile solution of ascorbic acid, at 100 mg/mL, was obtained from Hypofarma, Brazil. Cholesterol was obtained from Lipoid GmBh, Germany.

Unilamellar liposomes at 120 g/L were prepared with diestearoylphosphatidylcholine (Sigma, USA) and cholesterol (Lipoid GmBh, Germany) at a 5∶3 ratio, respectively, through the freeze and thaw technique, followed by extrusion using a 0.2 µm polycarbonate membrane [14] (link), [15] . These were then dialyzed against PBS pH 7.2 in a cellulose membrane bag over 24 hours. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES, Spectro Ciros CCD), available at the ‘Laboratório de Geoquímica - Departamento de Geologia / DEGEO / UFOP’, was used to determine the SbIII encapsulation efficiency. Mean size and polydispersion index of the liposomal preparations were measured through photon correlation spectroscopy using a Nanosizer N5 (Beckman Coulter, USA) as per the manufacturer's instructions.