Cholesterol-mediated functionalization of liposomes for artificial cell design

To achieve functionalized liposomes and their expanding applications in assembling artificial cells and solve problems of poor stability and single structure of liposomes, recent progress in state-of-the-art liposomes has employed cholesterol as an ‘anchor’ to enrich phospholipid membranes with modifications. Cholesterol is widely used because of its capacity for robust hydrophobic interactions with phospholipids. Introducing cholesterol into liposomes renders them more similar to cells. This review summarizes the various designs and applications of cholesterol-based anchors in liposomes, including surface macromolecular modification of liposomes to achieve improved properties and functionalization, cholesterol-mediated liposome membrane fusion, and cholesterol-mediated hierarchical construction of liposomes as artificial cell models. These studies guide artificial cells to reveal the behavior of life and wider applications.