To evaluate liposome formulations for use as intracellular sustained-release drug depots, we have compared the uptake and degradation in rat liver and spleen of liposomes of various compositions, containing as their bulk phospholipid an ether-linked phospholipid or one of several ester-linked phospholipids, by perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy. Multilamellar and small unilamellar vesicles (MLVs and SUVs), composed of egg phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin, distearoyl phosphatidylcholine (DSPC), dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) or its analog dihexadecylglycerophosphorylcholine (DHPC), and cholesterol plus phosphatidylserine, and containing 111In complexed to nitrilotriacetic acid, were injected intravenously in rats. Recovery of 111In-labeled liposomes in blood, liver, and spleen was assessed at specific time points after injection and the percentage of liposomes still intact in liver and spleen was determined by measurement of the time-integrated angular perturbation factor [G22(infinity)] of the 111In label. We found that MLVs but not SUVs, having DHPC as their bulk phospholipid, showed an increased resistance against lysosomal degradation as compared to other phospholipid-containing liposomes. The use of diacyl phospholipids with a high gel/liquid-crystalline phase-transition temperature, such as DPPC and DSPC, also retarded degradation of MLV, but not of SUV in the dose range tested, while the rate of uptake of these liposomes by the liver was lower.