Polymersomes are robust self-assembled vesicular structures that are widely employed in a variety of domains from nanomedicine to artificial cell design. Control over their membrane diffusion properties and structural integrity is crucial for their future development, especially as artificial cell models. Compartmentalization in eukaryotic cells is a crucial feature that allows separation and protection of species as well as simultaneous different enzymatic reactions to take place independently in a confined space with high spatio-temporal control. A number of techniques have been developed to afford structural analogues of eukaryotic cells, namely multi-compartment systems, such as double-emulsion, layer-by-layer assembly, micro-fluidics or phase transfer of emulsion droplets over an interface. Liposomes in liposomes are the first compartmentalized systems that appeared in the literature from the initial contribution of Zasadzinski. More recently, polymeric vesosomes (polymersomes in polymersomes) were developed, especially in our group, and used as scaffolds for cascade enzymatic reactions. These complex systems both mimic the structural and functional characteristics of the eukaryotic cell and thus provide a simplified biomimetic model that can serve as a tool for the understanding and the study of the cell properties.<br/>The mixing of different biomaterials (i.e. lipids and polymers) is a new attractive orientation that widens the use of vesicular carrier platforms for cell mimicry. Our recent developments concerning the design of multi-compartment cell-like systems composed of nano-sized liposomes or polymersomes entrapped in the lumen of giant polymersomes will be presented. We demonstrate that we can achieve controlled release of species in time and space by selectively bursting polymersomes with high specificity and temporal precision and consequently, deliver small-encapsulated vesicles (polymersomes or liposomes). The formation of asymmetric membranes, resulting from the combined assembly of a lipidic and polymer layers, and the study of their dynamic and diffusion properties will also be presented.

Smart polymersomes as structural analogues of eukaryotic cells: From membrane asymmetry to compartmentalization

255th National Meeting (2018)

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