Spontaneous formation of giant unilamellar vesicles from microdroplets of a polyion complex by thermally induced phase separation.
Water pump: Polyion complex (PIC) vesicles are spontaneously formed from PIC microdroplets, which are formed by mixing cationic and anionic polymers (see picture). The formation process can be reversibly controlled by local heating with a focused infrared laser that triggers microphase separation and subsequent water influx. The size of the resulting giant unilamellar vesicles is determined by the initial size of the PIC droplets.
Oana
Hidehiro
H
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering and Center for NanoBio Integration, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan. oana@mech.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Kishimura
Akihiro
A
Yonehara
Kei
K
Yamasaki
Yuichi
Y
Washizu
Masao
M
Kataoka
Kazunori
K
D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D007477:Ions / Q000737:chemistry*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry*
D004337:Drug Carriers; D007477:Ions; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols