Mechanical Stability of Lipid Membranes Decorated with Dextran Sulfate

CÁMARA, CANDELARIA I.; LURGO, FLORENCIA E.; FANANI, MARIA LAURA; WILKE, NATALIA

ACS Omega

ACS

Lugar: Washington DC; Año: 2018 vol. 3 p. 11673 - 11683

2470-1343

Lipid vesicles decorated with polysaccharides have been proposed as vehicles for drug delivery because thepolymers confer to the vesicles an enhanced stability, increasing the probability of the drug for reaching the target cell. Here, wefirst test the affinity of dextran sulfate (DS) for two different vesicle composition, and afterward, we study the effect of DS onthe liposome mechanical properties. We found that DS binds to both tested membrane compositions. The interaction of DSwith the anionic membranes studied here is mediated by the metal ions present in the aqueous solution (Na+ and Ca2+), beinghigher in the presence of Ca2+. Binding occurs preferentially in regions of closely packed lipids. Strikingly, DS did not affect thestability against detergent and the membrane rigidity of none of the vesicles. Thus, the proposed stability increase induced bythis kind of polymers in drug delivery systems is not related with a modulation of the membrane thermodynamic properties butto other biochemical factors.