Block Liposomes from Curvature-Stabilizing Lipids: Connected Nanotubes, -rods, or -spheres

Alexandra Zidovska†, Kai K. Ewert†, Joel Quispe‡, Bridget Carragher‡, Clinton S. Potter‡ and Cyrus R. Safinya*†
Materials, Physics, and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Departments, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, and National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037
Langmuir, 2009, 25 (5), pp 2979–2985
DOI: 10.1021/la8022375
Publication Date (Web): October 4, 2008
Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society
* Corresponding author. E-mail: safinya@mrl.ucsb.edu., †

University of California at Santa Barbara.

, ‡

The Scripps Research Institute.

General Biochemistry

Abstract

Abstract Image

We report on the discovery of block liposomes, a new class of chain-melted (liquid) vesicles, with membranes comprised of mixtures of the membrane-curvature-stabilizing multivalent lipid MVLBG2 of colossal charge +16 e and neutral 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DOPC). In a narrow MVLBG2 composition range (8−10 mol %), cryo-TEM revealed block liposomes consisting of distinctly shaped, yet connected, nanoscale spheres, pears, tubes, or rods. Unlike typical liposome systems, where spherical vesicles, tubular vesicles, and cylindrical micelles are separated on the macroscopic scale, within a block liposome, shapes are separated on the nanometer scale. Diblock (pear−tube) and triblock (pear−tube−pear) liposomes contain nanotubes with inner lumen diameter of 10−50 nm. Diblock (sphere−rod) liposomes were found to contain micellar nanorods ≈4 nm in diameter and several micrometers in length, analogous to cytoskeletal filaments of eukaryotic cells. Block liposomes may find a range of applications in chemical and nucleic acid delivery and as building blocks in the design of templates for hierarchical structures.

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History

  • Published In Issue March 03, 2009
  • Article ASAPOctober 04, 2008
  • Received: July 14, 2008
    Revised: August 26, 2008

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