Formation of Agarose-supported Liposomes by Polymer-assisted Method toward Biosensor

抄録

Liposomes are spherical structures made from two membranes of phospholipid molecules enclosing an aqueous compartment. Since their components and structures are close to those of cell membranes, one can modify liposomes with membrane protein. This makes liposomes ideal candidate as biosensors. However, due to the absence of cytoskeleton, liposomes are very fragile. Its poor mechanical property greatly restricts their use. For this reason, encapsulation of cytoskeletal-mimic materials into liposomes is highly desirable. Here, we develop a method to encapsulate agarose as a cytoskeletal-mimic material into liposomes by using a polymer-assisted hydration approach. We show that by our method, a large number of agarose-supported liposomes can be formed without any complicated procedures. Experimental results indicate that the performed liposomes have a higher mechanical stability than non-supported liposomes. At the same time, we show that transmembrane proteins are still able to bind to the lipid membrane, and small molecules can diffuse through the membrane into the liposome interior.