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SuperADAM

CRG - Advanced Reflectometer for the Analysis of Materials

The interaction between functionalized SPIONs and the surface of lipid bilayers

The safe application of nanotechnology devices in biomedicine requires fundamental understanding onhow they interact with and affect the different components of biological systems. In this respect, the cellular membrane, the cell envelope, certainly represents an important target or barrier for nanosystems. Here we report on the interaction between functionalized SuperParamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPIONs), promising contrast agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and lipid bilayers that mimicthe plasma membrane. Neutron Reflectometry was used to characterize this interaction by varying both SPION coating and lipid bilayer composition. In particular, the interaction of two different SPIONs, functionalized with a cationic surfactant and a zwitterionic phospholipid, and lipid bilayers, containing differentamount of cholesterol, were compared.

A. Luchini et al. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 151 (2017) 76–87