Dissimilar Deformation of Fluid- and Gel-Phase Liposomes upon Multivalent Interaction with Cell Membrane Mimics Revealed Using Dual-Wavelength Surface Plasmon Resonance
The mechanical properties of biological nanoparticles play a crucial role in their interaction with the cellular membrane, in particular for cellular uptake. This has significant implications for the design of pharmaceutical carrier particles. In this context, liposomes have become increasingly popular, among other reasons due to their customizability and easily varied physicochemical properties. With currently…
Combining Chemical Functionalization and FinFET Geometry for Field Effect Sensors as Accessible Technology to Optimize pH Sensing
Field Effect Transistors (FETs) have led the progress of applications measuring the acidity in aqueous solutions thanks to their accuracy, ease of miniaturization and capacity of multiplexing. The signal-to-noise ratio and linearity of the sensors are two of the most relevant figures of merit that can facilitate the improvements of these devices. In this work…
Membrane interactions of the anuran antimicrobial peptide HSP1-NH2: Different aspects of the association to anionic and zwitterionic biomimetic systems
Studies have suggested that antimicrobial peptides act by different mechanisms, such as micellisation, self-assembly of nanostructures and pore formation on the membrane surface. This work presents an extensive investigation of the membrane interactions of the 14 amino-acid antimicrobial peptide hylaseptin P1-NH2 (HSP1-NH2), derived from the tree-frog Hyla punctata, which has stronger antifungal than antibacterial potential. Biophysical and…
Effects of charge ratios of xylan-poly(allylamine hydrochloride) complexes on their adsorption onto different surfaces
The adsorption behavior of polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and 4-O-methylglucuronoxylan (Xyl) onto silica surface, cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) model surfaces, and unbleached softwood kraft fibers was studied. Different charge ratios and ionic strengths of the liquid medium (q − /q +: 0.3, 0.5 and 0.8 in 1 mM NaCl, and q − /q…
Layer-by-layer assembly of lysozyme with iota-carrageenan and gum Arabic for surface modification of food packaging materials with improved barrier properties
The study aimed to investigate the surface modification of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) by layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of lysozyme (LZ) with two different polysaccharides, iota-carrageenan (IC) and gum arabic (GA), for food packaging applications. The effects of solution pH, adsorption time, elimination of intermediate drying steps were investigated. The LbL film growth was monitored up…
Adhesion and Structural Changes of PEGylated Lipid Nanocarriers on Silica Surfaces
PEGylated lipid nanoparticles have a continuously expanding range of applications, particularly within pharmaceutical areas. Hereby, it is shown with the help of the Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and other surface sensitive techniques that, at room temperature, PEGylated liposomes and lipodisks adhere strongly to silica surfaces resulting in the displacement of the hydration…
Oxidized xylan additive for nanocellulose films – A swelling modifier
Polymeric wood hemicelluloses are depicted to join cellulose, starch and chitosan as key polysaccharides for sustainable materials engineering. However, the approaches to incorporate hemicelluloses in emerging bio-based products are challenged by lack of specific benefit, other than the biomass-origin, although their utilization would contribute to sustainable material use since they currently are a side stream…
Membrane interactions of Ocellatins. Where do antimicrobial gaps stem from?
The antimicrobial peptides Ocellatin-LB1, -LB2 and -F1, isolated from frogs, are identical from residue 1 to 22, which correspond to the -LB1 sequence, whereas -LB2 carries an extra N and -F1 additional NKL residues at their C-termini. Despite the similar sequences, previous investigations showed different spectra of activities and biophysical investigations indicated a direct correlation…
Surfactant Interactions with Protein-Coated Surfaces: Comparison between Colloidal and Macroscopically Flat Surfaces
Surface interactions with polymers or proteins are extensively studied in a range of industrial and biomedical applications to control surface modification, cleaning, or biofilm formation. In this study we compare surfactant interactions with protein-coated silica surfaces differing in the degree of curvature (macroscopically flat and colloidal nanometric spheres). The interaction with a flat surface was…
Self-assembled hybrid nanocomposite films of carbon dots and hydrolyzed collagen
In the present work, hydrophilic carbon dots (CD) prepared by cotton cellulose were used in the building of self-assembled films with hydrolyzed collagen (CL) to verify their properties, especially molecular interactions and morphology. The materials were characterized by several techniques, such as AFM, FTIR and UV–Vis Spectroscopy, Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and Calorimetric Titration. The…