title: Alignment of glycolipid nanotubes on a planar glass substrate using a two-step microextrusion technique.
abstract: We have developed a two-step microextrusion technique to align lipid nanotubes of 200 nm in diameter in parallel on planar glass substrates. This technique is useful to align self-assembled molecular nanofibers or nanotubes with diameters ranging from 100 to 300 nm. In the first step, we applied relatively large air pressure (approximately 40 hPa) onto a microcapillary filled with aqueous dispersion of lipid nanotubes to push them out. An aqueous droplet with 60 microm diameter was then extruded from the tip of the microcapillary. After one end of the lipid nanotube moved out, we changed the air pressure to be smaller, approximately 20 hPa to reduce the flow rate of the dispersion. The decrease in size of the droplet allowed us to fix the exposed end of the lipid nanotube onto the planar substrate. By dragging the microcapillary along the planar surface, we were able to align the whole nanotube onto the substrate. Using this technique, we have achieved the parallel alignment of the lipid nanotubes on the glass substrate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Advanced Materials Science, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8561, Japan.
authors.forename: Yanli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Hiroharu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yui
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fukagawa
authors.forename: Shoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamiya
authors.forename: Mitsutoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Kohzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Toshimi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D011312:Pressure
chemical_list: D006017:Glycolipids