Glucose oxidase-containing liposomes (GOL) as well as detergent-modulated glucose oxidase-containing liposomes were prepared and characterized, focusing not only on the reactivity of the liposomes upon external addition of glucose but also on the leakage of the entrapped glucose oxidase (GO) from the liposomes with the aim of developing a reactive and stable liposomal GO system. The membranes of the GOL prepared were composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) and modulated with either Triton X-100 or cholate. In the absence of added detergent, no GO leakage from the GOL was observed while its enzymatic activity was very low (low glucose permeability). As detergent-modulated liposomes, mixed POPC/ Triton X-100 and mixed POPC/cholate liposomes (abbreviated as TL and CL, respectively) were prepared at different effective detergent/POPC molar ratios (R-e) ranging from R-e = 0 to R-e = R-e(sat) (R-e(sat) is the critical value of R-e at which the liposome membrane is saturated with detergent). The reactivity of GO-loaded TL (abbreviated as GOTL) or GO-loaded CL (GOCL) increased drastically with increase in the respective detergent content in the liposomes. In the case of GOTL, at R-e(sat) = 0.40, a high reactivity was measured with a simultaneous high extent of GO leakage, suggesting that the observed enzymatic reaction was catalyzed mainly by leaked GO, caused by the interaction of Triton X-100 with the POPC membrane. On the other hand, GOCL prepared at R-e(sat) = 0.43 showed relatively high reactivity with only a small extent of GO leakage, suggesting that most of the enzyme reaction was limited by the glucose permeation across the bilayers of GOCL. The GO leakage from GOCL was found to occur mostly during the rearrangement of the liposomal membrane during the preparation of the GOCL (mixing the GOL and cholate). Fluorescence polarization measurements of membrane-associated DPH (1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene) indicated that CL prepared by modifying POPC with cholate did not lead to a drastic change in membrane fluidity, indicating that the interacting cholate molecules did not penetrate deeply into the POPC bilayers. In summary, it was clearly shown that the membrane permeability of GOL can be quite simply modulated by mixing it with a certain amount of cholate to form highly reactive and stable GOCL with minimal enzyme leakage. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals.