Charged nanoparticles acts as switch in lipid membranes

14 December 2008

A certain class of organic compounds known as lipids can coexists in both solid and liquid forms in membranes and due to this patchiness of phospholipid membranes, these has significant roles in biomolecules and biosensors. In an earlier study, Steve Granick and Liangfang Zhang, researchers at University of Illinois have demonstrated that attacking it with a charged nanoparticle can stabilize membrane surface and in the present study the researchers found a new technique to stimulate this patchiness in phospholipid membranes.

Although the researchers believe that phospholipid membranes exists in both the solid and liquid phases and are looking for the answer to what bind them so strongly in such a way. For the present study, scientists took a phospholipid membrane formed from single component and attacked the membrane by charged nanoparticles. For studying the interaction between the two, researchers used fluorescence and calorimetry techniques and as the membrane was composed from one single lipid, patchiness due to different lipids was ruled out.

Researchers took a variety of nanoparticles for the current study for attacking the phospholipid membrane and the membrane reported to the nanoparticle attack by changing its phase. Researchers found a very significant observation and found that the electric charge on the nanoparticle acts as switch and positive electric charge on the nanoparticle converts the solid membrane to liquid and negative electric charge on nanoparticle converts the liquid membrane to solid.

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