Issue 5, 2023

A lipid membrane supported on an artificial extracellular matrix made of polyelectrolyte multilayers: towards nanoarchitectonics at the cellular interface

Abstract

To implement a specific function, cells recognize multiple physical and chemical cues and exhibit molecular responses at their interfaces – the boundary regions between the cell lipid-based membrane and the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). Mimicking the cellular external microenvironment presents a big challenge in nanoarchitectonics due to the complexity of the ECM and lipid membrane fragility. This study reports an approach for the assembly of a lipid bilayer, mimicking the cellular membrane, placed on top of a polyelectrolyte multilayer cushion made of hyaluronic acid and poly-L-lysine – a nanostructured biomaterial, which represents a 3D artificial ECM. Model proteins, lysozyme and α-lactalbumin, (which have similar molecular masses but carry opposite net charges) have been employed as soluble signalling molecules to probe their interaction with these hybrids. The formation of a lipid bilayer and the intermolecular interactions in the hybrid structure are monitored using a quartz crystal microbalance and confocal fluorescence microscopy. Electrostatic interactions between poly-L-lysine and the externally added proteins govern the transport of proteins into the hybrid. Designed ECM–cell mimicking hybrids open up new avenues for modelling a broad range of cell membranes and ECM and their associated phenomena, which can be used as a tool for synthetic biology and drug screening.

Graphical abstract: A lipid membrane supported on an artificial extracellular matrix made of polyelectrolyte multilayers: towards nanoarchitectonics at the cellular interface

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Sep 2022
Accepted
17 Dec 2022
First published
19 Dec 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 2197-2205

A lipid membrane supported on an artificial extracellular matrix made of polyelectrolyte multilayers: towards nanoarchitectonics at the cellular interface

A. Vikulina, A. Wulf, G. Guday, R. Fakhrullin and D. Volodkin, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 2197 DOI: 10.1039/D2NR05186A

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