Polymerized vesicles application

Polymeric vesicles could be of better use for such an antitumor therapy on a cellular level, since they have at least one of the properties required, namely an extraordinary membrane stability. For a successful application, however, the simple systems prepared so far must be varied to a great extent, because the stability of a model cell membrane is not the only condition to be fulfilled. Besides stability and possibilities for cell recognition as discussed above the presence of cell membrane destructing substances such as lysophospholipids is necessary. These could e.g. be incorporated into the membrane of stabilized liposomes without destruction of the polymeric vesicles. There have already been reports about thekilling of tumor cells by synthetic alkyl lysophospholipids (72). 

Apart from the possible use of polymerized vesicles as stable models for biomembranes (Sect. 4) there may be a variety of different applications. Polymerized surfactant vesicles have been proposed to act as antitumor agents on a cellular level33 in analogy to the action of the immune system of mammals against tumor cells 85). Polymerized vesicles open the door to chemical membrane dissymmetry 22) which in turn, may lead to enhanced utility in photochemical energy transfer84 (solar energy conversion, artificial photosynthesis). The utilization of unpolymerized lipo-... 

Several comprehensive reviews on polymerizable lipids and supramolecular structures derived from them appeared between 1985 and 2002 [3,25-31], Consequently, this review focuses on developments in this field during 2000-2008. These include synthesis of new types of polymerizable lipids, creation and characterization of novel poly(lipid) membrane systems, and applications of polymerized vesicles and membranes in chemical sensing, separations science, drug delivery, materials biocompatibility, and other fields. 

Brinkhuis RP, Rutjes FPJT, van Hest JCM (2011) Polymeric vesicles in biomedical applications. Polym Chem 2(7) 1449—1462... 

Jelinek R, Kolusheva S. Polymerized hpid vesicles as colorimetric biosensors for biotechnological applications. Biotechnol Adv 2001 19 109-118. 

The process utilizing supramolecular organization involves pore expansion in silicas. A schematic view of such micelles built from the pure surfactant and those involving in addition n-alkane is shown in Figure 4.9. Another example of pore creation provides a cross-linking polymerization of monomers within the surfactant bilayer [30]. As a result vesicle-templated hollow spheres are created. Dendrimers like that shown in Figure 4.10 exhibit some similarity to micellar structures and can host smaller molecules inside themselves [2c]. Divers functionalized dendrimers that are thought to present numerous prospective applications will be presented in Section 7.6. 

Recent reports on monomeric and polymerized bolaamphiphiles1 provide evidence for their potential application in the broader field of molecular organizates (1,2). Thus monomeric bolaamphiphiles have been employed in the formation of monolayer lipid membranes or vesicles (1-3). formation of micelles (4-5) and also for spanning bilayer membranes (1-6) The latter process has resulted in the stabilization of membranes. 

Surfactant aggregates (microemulsions, micelles, monolayers, vesicles, and liquid crystals) are recently the subject of extensive basic and applied research, because of their inherently interesting chemistry, as well as their diverse technical applications in such fields as petroleum, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and detergents. Some of the important systems which these aggregates may model are enzyme catalysis, membrane transport, and drug delivery. More practical uses for them are enhanced tertiary oil recovery, emulsion polymerization, and solubilization and detoxification of pesticides and other toxic organic chemicals. 

This article is organized primarily on the geometry of the supramolecular structure (e.g., vesicle, planar supported film, etc.). Functionalization of poly(lipid) structures and their technological applications are presented in a separate section as these have expanded greatly as the field has matured. The analytical techniques available for characterization of substrate-supported, thin organic films have advanced considerably since polymerized lipid films were first reported in the early 1980s, and examples of the use of these techniques to study poly(lipid) membranes are presented throughout this review. 

Large and small vesicles are more frequently studied as dispersed ensembles due to their ease of preparation and compatibility with solution phase analytical/physical methods. Lipid polymerization yields vesicles with enhanced stability to surfactants, organic solvents, dehydration, and heat [26]. Polymerization also alters membrane permeability to ions and molecules. These unique properties have spawned development of stable nanocapsules, bioreactors, and sensors. Many if not most of the liposomal architectures, methods to stabilize them, and technological applications discussed below have evolved from earlier pioneering work by many research groups. The reader is referred to previous key reviews [3,26,28]. 

The potential of polymersomes in biomedical applications have been extensively discussed in several reviews [19,22-26], so they are mentioned here only briefly. Mainly due to the high molecular weight of their amphiphiles they differ from liposomes in several aspects, which makes them beneficial for certain purposes. (1) Typically, they have a much thicker shell. For the vesicles shown in Fig. 2c the hydrophobic core thickness is d = 21 nm, while for lipid membranes typically dm 3 nm. (2) Due to the larger thickness, polymeric membranes are much less susceptible to fluctuations and defects, and they can withstand larger deformations than lipid systems. It is remarkable that, while lipid bilayers can be stretched only 5%... 

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