Morphological study on a phospholipid mixture and their Dependence of Temperature, Concentration and Chemical Composition

POSTER

Abstract

A variety of morphologies, such as nanodiscs (bicelles), bilayered ribbons, unilamellar vesicles (ULVs), multi-lamellar vesicles (MLVs) and perforated lamellae exist in phospholipid mixtures composed of a long chain phospatidylcholine (PC), its charged counterpart (i.e., phosphatidylglycerol, PG with the same hydrophobic chain length) and a short-chain PC. Here, we present a comprehensive the structural characterization of such mixtures with various combinations of long-chain (e.g., di-14, di-16, di-18 PC) and short-chain (e.g., di-06, di-07 PC) lipids at a constant charged density using small angle neutron scattering (SANS), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A time-resolved DLS study is also carried out to understand the kinetics of the structural transformation as a function of temperature, lipid concentration and composition. The preliminary data indicate that uniform nanodiscs and/or bilayer ribbons generally exist at low temperature, while at high temperature ULVs or MLVs are obtained. Moreover, the nanodiscs coalesce with each other over a period of time. The fundamental understanding of the structural formation mechanism and kinetics can lead to potential application of this system to bionanotechnology, such as drug carrying and therapeutic imaging.

Authors

  • Ying Liu

    • University of Connecticut Chemical Engineering

  • Yongkun Yang

    • UNIVESITY OF CONNECTICUT
    • University of Connecticut Polymer Program

  • Mu-Ping Nieh

    • University of Connecticut, Institute of Materials Science, Chemical, Materials \& Biomolecular Engineering
    • UNIVESITY OF CONNECTICUT
    • University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
    • University of Connecticut Chemical Engineering/IMS
    • Department of Chemical, Materials \& Biomolecular Engineering, Institute of Materials Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
    • University of Connecticut, Institute of Materials Science, Chemical Materials \& Biomolecular Engineering
    • University of Connecticut