title: Exotic aqueous behavior of synthetic lipids: formation of vesicular nanotubes.
abstract: The work reported herein deals with the synthesis and the aggregation behavior studies of synthetic lipids bearing a non-ionic polar head made up of a tris(hydroxymethyl) aminomethane (tris) moiety linked with an aminoglycerol interface. The hydrophobic chains with variable lengths were grafted onto the hydroxyl functions of the aminoglycerol residue through ester or carbamate bonds. Tiny chemical modifications within this family of non-ionic surfactants brought about major variations in their aggregation behavior. They formed vesicles, tubules, and also small stable end-capped tubules - called vesicular nanotubes -, when the polar head bore two heptadecyl chains linked through a carbamate bond. Various techniques (nanosizer measurements, freeze fracture electron microscopy (FFEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), carboxyfluorescein (CF)) encapsulation were used to specify the structure of these assemblies. Notably, the vesicular nanotubes exhibited a small size, a fair polydispersity, great stability in an aqueous solution (up to 1 year) and a good efficiency to entrap and slowly release a probe such as carboxyfluoresceine: all these properties are perfectly suitable for their use as potential drug carriers.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Bioorganique et des Systèmes Moléculaires Vectoriels, Université d'Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse, Faculté des Sciences, 33 Rue Louis Pasteur, 84000 Avignon, France. ange.polidori@univ-avignon.fr
authors.forename: Ange
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Polidori
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: Anne Sylvie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Fabiano
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pucci
mesh_terms: D005452:Fluoresceins / Q000737:chemistry; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D005990:Glycerol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D011412:Propanolamines / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D014325:Tromethamine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005452:Fluoresceins; D008055:Lipids; D008081:Liposomes; D011412:Propanolamines; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D014325:Tromethamine; C024098:6-carboxyfluorescein; D005990:Glycerol