Self-assembly of a cholesteryl-modified nucleoside into tubular structures from giant unilamellar vesicles

We recently reported the formation of micro- and nanometer thick tubules in a binary system of cholesteryl-modified aminouridine and a phosphatidylcholine in aqueous solution upon cooling from 70 °C to room temperature (Pescador et al. , Chem. Commun , 2010, 46 , 5358). To better understand the firs...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:RSC advances 2015-01, Vol.5 (6), p.4502-4510
Main Authors: Losensky, Luisa, Chiantia, Salvatore, Holland, Gudrun, Laue, Michael, Petran, Anca, Liebscher, Jürgen, Arbuzova, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bundles
Conjugates
Formations
Lumens
Nucleosides
Self assembly
Tubes
Vesicles
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We recently reported the formation of micro- and nanometer thick tubules in a binary system of cholesteryl-modified aminouridine and a phosphatidylcholine in aqueous solution upon cooling from 70 °C to room temperature (Pescador et al. , Chem. Commun , 2010, 46 , 5358). To better understand the first steps of the tubular self-assembly and the role of the phospholipid, we investigated now morphological changes of phosphatidylcholine giant unilamellar vesicles upon incorporation of the conjugate at room temperature. We observed formation of needle-like structures organized in rosettes or bundles within hours to days depending on the mole fraction of the conjugate and preparation technique. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the needle-like structures were 100–200 nm thick tubules with the inner lumen diameters of 15–40 nm. The tube self-assembly occurred at room temperature, which is important for further development of biomedical applications.
ISSN:2046-2069
2046-2069
DOI:10.1039/C4RA11289J