We believe that the development of infection models in adult zebrafish might ultimately prove valuable for designing new therapeutic approaches and for elucidating the functions of the teleost immune system. The NLc (NanoLiposome cocktail) liposomes were prepared as previously described in Ruyra et al. [18]. Liposomal formulations were prepared by the thin film hydratation method [25] with some modifications. Briefly, DOPA, DLPC, cholesterol, cholesteryl and chol-PEG600 were dissolved in chloroform I-BET151 research buy solutions (100 mg/ml) and mixed at the desired molar ratios (0.5:0.35:0.10:0.05). The organic solvent was then evaporated
by rotary Libraries evaporation to obtain a dry lipid film. For the preparation of the liposomes that contained a cocktail of immunostimulants the dry lipid film was hydrated with a solution containing 0.5 mg/ml poly(I:C) and 1.0 mg/ml LPS in PBS. The co-encapsulation of poly(I:C) ABT-199 mw and LPS was done with an immunostimulant:lipid ratio of 1:30 and 1:15, respectively. The resulting lipid suspensions were then vigorously shaken and were homogenised by means of an extruder (Lipex Biomembranes, Canada) through 2 stacked polycarbonate membranes (200 nm pore size, Avanti Polar Lipids) to finally obtain unilamellar liposomes. In all cases, non-encapsulated immunostimulants were removed from liposome preparations by ultracentrifugation at 110,000 × g for 30 min at
10 °C. Liposome integrity was checked by DLS and Cryo-TEM. The final NLc liposomes comprised 125.8 ± 6.6 nm liposomes containing both poly(I:C) and LPS (1 mg/ml liposome encapsulates 33.3 μg/ml poly(I:C) and 16.6 μg/ml LPS) and had a neutral surface charge (1.37 ± 3.58 mV). 17-DMAG (Alvespimycin) HCl The co-encapsulation efficiencies (EE) were of 22.3 ± 2.1% for LPS and of 99.6 ± 0.1% for poly(I:C). For long-term conservation, the cryoprotectant trehalose was incorporated into the procedure. The dry lipid film was hydrated with a solution containing the immunostimulants
and trehalose at a lipid/carbohydrate ratio of 1:5 (2.7%, w/v). The resulting NLc liposomes were frozen in liquid nitrogen, lyophilised (48 h at −80 °C) and finally, stored at RT for several weeks. When needed, the lyophilised samples were re-suspended in PBS and the morphology of the reconstituted NLc liposomes was assessed by Cryo-TEM (JEOL-JEM 1400, Japan). To quantify the amount of immunostimulants leaked after lyophilisation, liposomes encapsulating either poly(I:C) or LPS were prepared lyophilised and finally, stored at RT. At 0 h and 4 months, the dried liposomal cakes were resuspended with PBS and the free poly(I:C) or LPS was separately quantified as described in Ruyra et al. [18]. Adult wild type (wt) zebrafish were held in tanks with recirculating water under 14 h light/10 h dark at 28 °C. Adult rainbow trout (O. mykiss) were held in tanks under 12 h light/12 h dark at 15 °C.