6533b862fe1ef96bd12c7502

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Macromolecules in ordered media. II. A fluorescence study of the polymer-liposome association

subject

description

The interactions of poly (4-vinyl pyridine) with dimyristoylphosphatidic acid-based liposomes were studied in heterogeneous solution systems. The polymer was dispersed in aqueous buffer solutions of small unilamellar vesicles and after a suitable period of incubation to raise the equilibrium, the experiments has been conducted as a function of polymer concentration and temperature. According to the measurements of the steady-state fluorescence spectra, changes in the intensities as well as shifts in the emission peak wavelength, has served as raw data to accounting for the polymer-vesicle interactions. Quantitative evaluation of the interaction has been done using a simple associating model with some approximations. The key parameters evaluated were the amount of polymer bound and the number of charged lipids on a membrane site as well as the number of effective charges of poly (4-vinyl pyridine) chains at the liposome interface.