The encapsulation of glucose oxidase (GOx) into onion-type multilamellar vesicles is studied and compared to that of GOx into liposomes. The enzyme was shown not to be affected by encapsulation as evidenced by the complete recovery of its activity after being freed. An similar to15% increase of GOx activity was conferred by confinement in onions in the 30-50 degreesC temperature range. Entrapment of GOx in onions was proved to be effective since a maximum of 10% leak was measured after 45 days of encapsulation. The encapsulation yield, which reaches 80%, and the number of encapsulated enzyme molecules per onion (1000 GOx molecules) were found to be much higher than for liposomes. The effect of onion composition on the encapsulation yield was determined and predicted by a thermodynamic model applied to the lipids-GOx-phosphate buffer system. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.