Enzymatic digestion of liposome-bound polysaccharides: evidence of bridging mechanism.

Laminarin, a water-soluble polysaccharide is known to induce aggregation and fusion of liposomes. Using laminarin specific lysing enzymes for multi-lamellar liposomes their aggregation was found to be fully reversible, in contrast to small unilamellar liposomes for which irreversible fusion is the main process. Moreover, our results indicate that these processes are probably mediated by the formation of polysaccharide cross-bridges between adjacent liposomes.