Extreme Resilience in Cochleate Nanoparticles

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• 作者：Tam谩s Boz贸 ; Rich谩rd Brecska ; P谩l Gr贸f ; Mikl贸s S. Z. Kellermayer
• 刊名：Langmuir
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：January 20, 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：31
• 期：2
• 页码：839-845
• 全文大小：454K
• ISSN：1520-5827

文摘

Cochleates, prospective nanoscale drug delivery vehicles, are rolls of negatively charged phospholipid membrane layers. The membrane layers are held together by calcium ions; however, neither the magnitude of membrane interaction forces nor the overall mechanical properties of cochleates have been known. Here, we manipulated individual nanoparticles with atomic force microscopy to characterize their nanomechanical behavior. Their stiffness (4.2鈥?2.5 N/m) and membrane-rupture forces (45.3鈥?78 nN) are orders of magnitude greater than those of the tough viral nanoshells. Even though the fundamental building material of cochleates is a fluid membrane, the combination of supramolecular geometry, the cross-linking action of calcium, and the tight packing of the ions apparently lead to extreme mechanical resilience. The supramolecular design of cochleates may provide efficient protection for encapsulated materials and give clues to understanding biomolecular structures of similar design, such as the myelinated axon.