Vesicle applications

Effect of Cation Concentrations and Temperature on the Rates of Aggregation of Acidic Phospholipid Vesicles Application to Fusion... 

Many complex systems have been spread on liquid interfaces for a variety of reasons. We begin this chapter with a discussion of the behavior of synthetic polymers at the liquid-air interface. Most of these systems are linear macromolecules however, rigid-rod polymers and more complex structures are of interest for potential optoelectronic applications. Biological macromolecules are spread at the liquid-vapor interface to fabricate sensors and other biomedical devices. In addition, the study of proteins at the air-water interface yields important information on enzymatic recognition, and membrane protein behavior. We touch on other biological systems, namely, phospholipids and cholesterol monolayers. These systems are so widely and routinely studied these days that they were also mentioned in some detail in Chapter IV. The closely related matter of bilayers and vesicles is also briefly addressed. 

There has been a surge of research activity in the physical chemistry of membranes, bilayers, and vesicles. In addition to the fundamental interest in cell membranes and phospholipid bilayers, there is tremendous motivation for the design of supported membrane biosensors for medical and pharmaceutical applications (see the recent review by Sackmann [64]). This subject, in particular its biochemical aspects, is too vast for full development here we will only briefly discuss some of the more physical aspects of these systems. The reader is referred to the general references and some additional reviews [65-69]. 

The other class of phenomenological approaches subsumes the random surface theories (Sec. B). These reduce the system to a set of internal surfaces, supposedly filled with amphiphiles, which can be described by an effective interface Hamiltonian. The internal surfaces represent either bilayers or monolayers—bilayers in binary amphiphile—water mixtures, and monolayers in ternary mixtures, where the monolayers are assumed to separate oil domains from water domains. Random surface theories have been formulated on lattices and in the continuum. In the latter case, they are an interesting application of the membrane theories which are studied in many areas of physics, from general statistical field theory to elementary particle physics [26]. Random surface theories for amphiphilic systems have been used to calculate shapes and distributions of vesicles, and phase transitions [27-31]. 

The development of monoalkyl phosphate as a low skin irritating anionic surfactant is accented in a review with 30 references on monoalkyl phosphate salts, including surface-active properties, cutaneous effects, and applications to paste and liquid-type skin cleansers, and also phosphorylation reactions from the viewpoint of industrial production [26]. Amine salts of acrylate ester polymers, which are physiologically acceptable and useful as surfactants, are prepared by transesterification of alkyl acrylate polymers with 4-morpholinethanol or the alkanolamines and fatty alcohols or alkoxylated alkylphenols, and neutralizing with carboxylic or phosphoric acid. The polymer salt was used as an emulsifying agent for oils and waxes [70]. Preparation of pharmaceutical liposomes with surfactants derived from phosphoric acid is described in [279]. Lipid bilayer vesicles comprise an anionic or zwitterionic surfactant which when dispersed in H20 at a temperature above the phase transition temperature is in a micellar phase and a second lipid which is a single-chain fatty acid, fatty acid ester, or fatty alcohol which is in an emulsion phase, and cholesterol or a derivative. 

The application of modified electrodes for the assay of antibodies in senun preparations using redox indicators encapsuled into antigene marked liposomes attached to an electrode surface was suggested First model studies towards this goal make use of ferricyanide ions entrapped in synthetic vesicles. 

Recently, unique vesicle-forming (spherical bUayers that offer a hydrophilic reservoir, suitable for incorporation of water-soluble molecules, as well as hydrophobic wall that protects the loaded molecules from the external solution) setf-assembUng peptide-based amphiphilic block copolymers that mimic biological membranes have attracted great interest as polymersomes or functional polymersomes due to their new and promising applications in dmg delivery and artificial cells [ 122]. However, in all the cases the block copolymers formed are chemically dispersed and are often contaminated with homopolymer. 

A variety of other clinically important infections, such as brucellosis, listeriosis, salmonellosis, and various Mycobacterium infections, are of interest as these are often localized in organs rich in MPS cells. Liposome encapsulation has been demonstrated to improve therapeutic indices of several drugs in a number of infectious models. The natural avidity of macrophages for liposomes can also be exploited in the application of the vesicles as carriers of immunomodulators to activate these cells to an microbicidal, antiviral, or tumoricidal state. These studies were recently reviewed by Emmen and Storm (1987), Popescu et al. (1987), and Alving (1988). In addition to the treatment of "old" infectious diseases, the concept of MPS-directed drug delivery is of considerable interest for the therapy AIDS, possibly enabling control of human immunodeficiency virus replication in human macrophages. 

Self-Assembled Polypeptide and Polypeptide Hybrid Vesicles From Synthesis to Application... 

The lipid molecule is the main constituent of biological cell membranes. In aqueous solutions amphiphilic lipid molecules form self-assembled structures such as bilayer vesicles, inverse hexagonal and multi-lamellar patterns, and so on. Among these lipid assemblies, construction of the lipid bilayer on a solid substrate has long attracted much attention due to the many possibilities it presents for scientific and practical applications [4]. Use of an artificial lipid bilayer often gives insight into important aspects ofbiological cell membranes [5-7]. The wealth of functionality of this artificial structure is the result of its own chemical and physical properties, for example, two-dimensional fluidity, bio-compatibility, elasticity, and rich chemical composition. 

Other possible direct probes are optical experiments similar to studies [113] of vesicles but expanded towards shorter A (20-30 A). Alternatively neutron spin-echo studies of stacked bilayer arrays, which can probe the 10-30 A range [114], might possibly be applicable here. Finally, the x-ray grazing-incidence technique has been shown to be a powerful tool for studying short wavelength fluctuations at fluid interfaces [100]. The application of this technique to the investigation of membrane surface fluctuations can reasonably be expected in the near future [115,116]. 

The most important application recently developed for synthetic liposomes is as potential drug carriers for controlled release, especially for cancer chemotherapy (7). In general, the success of liposomes as vehicles for the transport of specific drugs will largely depend on their stability under physiological conditions. Unlike the naturally occurring membranes, the synthetic vesicles have very limited stability, and this is a... 

All of the above-mentioned examples describe organosiloxane hybrid sheet-like structures. However, cell-mimicry requires spherical structures that can form an inner space as a container. Liposomes and lipid bilayer vesicles are known as models of a spherical cell membrane, which is a direct mimic of a unicellular membrane. However, the limited mechanical stability of conventional lipid vesicles is often disadvantageous for some kinds of practical application. 

The most useful form of liposomes for bioconjugate applications consists of small, spherical ULVs that possess layers of hydrophilic head groups on their inner and outer surfaces. The inside of each vesicle can contain hydrophilic molecules that are protected from the outer environment by the lipid shell. The outside surface can be derivatized to contain covalently attached molecules designed to target the liposome for specific interactions. 

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