In the present study we investigated lipid-lipid interactions in membranes adsorbed to the surface of silica nanoparticles. We used an approach that exploits the influence of membrane-associated electron spin labels on the triplet state relaxation kinetics of membrane-bound fluorophores.  The singlet-triplet state transition within the dye Lissamine Rhodamine B (LRB) is significantly affected when residing in the vicinity of the stable nitroxide radical TEMPO. These interactions are distance dependent and result in a change in the fluorescence signal, which was measured using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS).  This method allows the measurement of a strong fluorescence signal in studies of low-frequency molecular interactions, because the lifetime of the triplet state is considerably longer than the singlet-singlet transition.Using the above-described approach we studied the influence of a silica surface on the lipid-lipid interactions in model membranes.  The effect of functionalized surfaces on the membrane fluidity is addressed as well as the influence of size and morphology of the silica particle.

Studies of biological membranes on silica particles

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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