Lipid membranes are the doorway from the environment to the interior of cells. The molecular level interactions that govern nanoparticle (NP) uptake by cells are not completely understood, but a deeper understanding of these interactions has the potential to improve a wide range of scientific fields. At present, only limited molecular scale information is available on the interactions of NPs with cellular membranes that influence their attachment to and internalization by cells. We investigated NP interaction with model phospholipid membranes by varying both the chemistry of prepared supported lipid bilayers and of the functionalized NPs. Bilayer properties examined included membrane fluidity and headgroups expressed to solution. The nanoparticles employed varied in core composition (gold or diamond) and surface functionalization. We employed a suite of techniques to investigate NP interaction with the supported lipid bilayers including quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation, fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and nonlinear optical spectroscopies. Surprisingly, positively charged functionalized NPs attached to supported lipid bilayers in a manner that was not consistent with electrostatic forces being the dominant force involved.

Interaction of functionalized gold and diamond nanoparticles with supported lipid bilayers

248th National Meeting (2014)

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