Search results for "Vesicle"

Loading of polymer nanocarriers: Factors, mechanisms and applications

2014

Abstract The progress in synthetic polymer chemistry has allowed the precise design of hybrid and multifunctional colloidal particles, which differ in type, size and shape, thus enhancing their possible applications as target-oriented carriers of low and high molar mass active species. This survey discusses the basic principles and factors, associated with the process of loading of polymeric nanoparticles. For the purpose of this review, the polymeric nano-carriers are divided into five most studied types: micelles, nanogels, capsules (incl. vesicles), dendrimers, and hybrid nanoparticles with porous cores. Factors influencing the loading are described and their importance discussed. An imp…

Polymer-induced shape changes and capping in giant liposomes

1995

We studied the coupling of a polymeric amphiphile undergoing a transition from an expanded to a collapsed state of the hydrophilic polymer chain upon heating above 29°C with free and solid supported lipid bilayers. Lateral diffusion measurements and studies of vesicle shape-changes confirmed previous calorimetric studies, suggesting that the amphiphile remains incorporated in the giant vesicles and the supported bilayer during the transition. The two-dimensional hydrodynamic radii of the amphiphile in the expanded and collapsed state was measured by making use of the strong quadratic dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the radius of the diffusant (D ∞ r−2) due to the frictional coupl…

Composite soy lecithin–decylpolyglucoside vesicles: A theoretical and experimental study

2008

In the present work, vesicles made with soy lecithin and a commercial mixture of alkyl polyglucosides were prepared and characterized. Vesicles with a constant amount of soy lecithin and an increasing amount of a decylpolyglucoside surfactant, (OrNS10), were formulated and their physicochemical properties were studied with the aim to design a drug delivery system suitable for different applications. To this purpose, morphology, size distribution, ζ-potential and apparent viscosity of the prepared vesicles were studied. Vesicles were also characterized by using optical and light polarized microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and photon correlation spectroscopy. A stability study was …

Fatty Acid Aggregates Simulated using Constant pH Molecular Dynamics with a Coarse-Grained Model

2013

Fatty acids are crucial biomolecules, important for lipid metabolism, signaling, models for protocell membranes, soaps, industrial applications, and drug delivery. Oleic acid has complex phase behavior with respect to the protonation state of the carboxylic head group, which depends on the pH of the solution. Oils form at low pHs, vesicles at intermediate pHs, and micelles at high pHs. We use constant pH molecular dynamics with the MARTINI coarse-grained model to investigate oleic acid aggregates at different pH conditions. We determine titration curves for the oleic acid monomers in different aggregates, and observe a shift in the microscopic pKa. In agreement with experimental results, th…

Membrane-Perturbing Activities of KL4-Related Surfactant Peptides

2013

KL4 is a 21-residue peptide proposed as a potential substitute of pulmonary surfactant protein SP-B in synthetic surfactants, intended for the treatment of respiratory pathologies. The peptide, composed by leucines interrupted by lysine every four residues, was synthesized to simulate C-terminal amphipathic helical segments of SP-B. Once incorporated into lipid-protein complexes, KL4 promotes formation of interfacial films that produce and maintain surface tensions below 5 mN/m during compression-expansion cycling. Although KL4 was designed as an amphipathic helix at the membrane surface, the data on orientation and interactions of the peptide in membranes are contradictory. In the present …

1986

Cinnamic acid moieties were incorporated into amphiphilic compounds containing one and two alkyl chains. These lipid-like compounds with photoreactive units undergo self-organization to form monolayers at the gas-water interface and bilayer structures (vesicles) in aqueous solutions. The photoreaction of the cinnamic acid moiety induced by 254 nm UV light was investigated in the crystalline state, in monolayers, in vesicles and in solution in organic solvents. The single-chain amphiphiles undergo dimerization to yield photoproducts with twice the molecular weight of the corresponding monomers in organized systems. The photoreaction of amphiphiles containing two cinnamic acid groups occurs v…

Block copolymers in giant unilamellar vesicles with proteins or with phospholipids

2013

Biocompatible, highly water-soluble, nonionic, amphiphilic block copolymers having different hydrophobic blocks and architectures, but similar molecular size and chemical nature of the hydrophilic blocks, were investigated to check for their ability to form hybrid giant unilamellar vesicles with proteins, and for their interactions with giant unilamellar phospholipid vesicles (GUV). PGM14-b-PPO34-b-PGM14 (PGM-PPO-PGM) consists of a poly(propylene oxide) middle block and outer poly(glycerol monomethacrylate) blocks. Ch-PEG32-b-lPG18 (Ch-PEG-lPG) and Ch-PEG30-b-hbPG17 (Ch-PEG-hbPG) have a linear poly(ethylene glycol) block, linked to a cholesterol end group and to a linear (lPG) or hyperbranc…

Liposomes from α,ω-dipolar amphiphiles with a polymerizable diyne moiety in the hydrophobic chain

1982

Symmetric polymerizable α,ω-dipolar C22-diacetylenes were prepared by oxidative coupling of 10-undecynoic acid and 10-undecynol, respectively, by means of copper II salts in ethanolic solution. 10,12-Docosadiyne-1,22-diphosphate (3)—by reaction of 10,12-docosadiyne-1,22-diol (2) with POCl3—was polymerized in aqueous solution using UV irradiation to form deep blue, thermochromic solutions. By consonication of 3 with cholesterol, monolayer vesicles were formed. This was proven by encapsulation of 6-carboxyfluorescein. These monomeric vesicles were polymerized by UV light to yield stable, deep blue polymeric vesicle suspensions.

Developing liver spheroids for elucidating the role of colorectal cancer-derived smallextracellular vesicles in the pre-metastatic niche formation

2022

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common tumor in the world frequently associated with liver metastasiscausing unfavorable prognosis. A recent study performed in our laboratory has demonstrated that CRC small extracellular vesi-cles (SEVs) induce an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) of hepatocytes (heps) driving them to actively participate inthe pre-metastatic niche formation, probably contributing to form a liver fibrotic microenvironment. Since 2D cell cultures par-tially reflect the structural complexity of the in vivo microenvironment to give more power to our functional model, we switchedto use hepatocyte spheroids (HeSPHs), which can give us more proper…

Huntingtin controls neurotrophic support and survival of neurons by enhancing BDNF vesicular transport along microtubules.

2004

AbstractPolyglutamine expansion (polyQ) in the protein huntingtin is pathogenic and responsible for the neuronal toxicity associated with Huntington's disease (HD). Although wild-type huntingtin possesses antiapoptotic properties, the relationship between the neuroprotective functions of huntingtin and pathogenesis of HD remains unclear. Here, we show that huntingtin specifically enhances vesicular transport of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) along microtubules. Huntingtin-mediated transport involves huntingtin-associated protein-1 (HAP1) and the p150Glued subunit of dynactin, an essential component of molecular motors. BDNF transport is attenuated both in the disease context and b…