Direct visualization of dispersed lipid bicontinuous cubic phases by cryo-electron tomography
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2015 papers
Abstract
Bulk and dispersed cubic liquid crystalline phases (cubosomes), present in the body and in living cell membranes, are believed to play an essential role in biological phenomena. Moreover, their biocompatibility is attractive for nutrient or drug delivery system applications. Here the three-dimensional organization of dispersed cubic lipid self-assembled phases is fully revealed by cryo-electron tomography and compared with simulated structures. It is demonstrated that the interior is constituted of a perfect bicontinuous cubic phase, while the outside shows interlamellar attachments, which represent a transition state between the liquid crystalline interior phase and the outside vesicular structure. Therefore, compositional gradients within cubosomes are inferred, with a lipid bilayer separating at least one water channel set from the external aqueous phase. This is crucial to understand and enhance controlled release of target molecules and calls for a revision of postulated transport mechanisms from cubosomes to the aqueous phase.
Related Papers
- → Interaction of an Antimicrobial Peptide with a Model Lipid Bilayer Using Molecular Dynamics Simulation(2009)28 cited
- → Effect of the structural difference between Bax-α5 and Bcl-xL-α5 on their interactions with lipid bilayers(2013)6 cited
- To Study the Height and Topography of Lipid Bilayer by AFM(2007)
- → The Role of Bilayer Edges in Supported Lipid Bilayer Formation at Low Lipid Concentrations(2009)
- → Interdependence of cholesterol distribution and conformational order in lipid bilayers(2023)