title: Freely drawn single lipid nanotube patterns.
abstract: LNTs are unique 3D structures made only of safe and abundant biomaterials by self-assembly. The current bottleneck for developing applications using LNTs is the lack of an easy technique to pattern them on substrates. We report a method to free-draw single lipid nanotube (LNT) patterns in any shape on surfaces with 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE) that takes an inverted hexagonal (HII) phase. We used pre-self-assembled LNTs or HII lipid blocks as a lipid reservoir from which new LNTs were pulled by applying a point load with a micromanipulator. The extreme simplicity of our technique originates from the fundamental nature of DOPE lipids that prefer a HII phase, while all the conventional approaches use PC lipids that form a lamellar phase. By adjusting the surface properties with polyelectrolyte multilayers, the created single LNT objects are able to remain adhered to the surface for over a week. Importantly, it could be shown that two vesicles loaded with caged fluorescent molecules were able to fuse well with a LNT, enabling diffusive transport of uncaged fluorescent molecules from one vesicle to the other.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Dept. New Materials and Biosystems & University of Heidelberg, Institute for Physical Chemistry, Dept. Biophysical Chemistry, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany. kaori.sugihara@unige.ch.
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugihara
authors.forename: Amin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rustom
authors.forename: Joachim P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Spatz
mesh_terms: D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D010714:Phosphatidylethanolamines / Q000737:chemistry*; D011094:Polyethyleneimine / Q000737:chemistry; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D013451:Sulfonic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D010714:Phosphatidylethanolamines; D011108:Polymers; D013451:Sulfonic Acids; D011107:Polylysine; C020888:1,2-dielaidoylphosphatidylethanolamine; D011094:Polyethyleneimine; C077114:styrenesulfonic acid polymer