Issue 5, 2007

Dynamic microcompartmentalization of giant unilamellar vesicles by sol–gel transition and temperature induced shrinking/swelling of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)

Abstract

Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) were microinjected with aqueous solutions of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAAm). Temperature-dependent sol–gel phase transitions of the solutions, followed by shrinking and swelling of the resulting hydrogel, were studied in the presence of a variety of co-solutes within the GUV. Reversible formation of a dense, spherical hydrogel structure (compartment) was observed in all cases with defined shrinking/swelling behaviour at temperatures above the lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs). Nanotube-mediated merging of two vesicles with thus formed compartments resulted in a single GUV with two internalized hydrogel structures. As an application example, we demonstrate how fluorescent nanoparticles can be immobilized in such gel structures.

Graphical abstract: Dynamic microcompartmentalization of giant unilamellar vesicles by sol–gel transition and temperature induced shrinking/swelling of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Aug 2006
Accepted
29 Nov 2006
First published
20 Dec 2006

Soft Matter, 2007,3, 587-595

Dynamic microcompartmentalization of giant unilamellar vesicles by sol–gel transition and temperature induced shrinking/swelling of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)

M. Markström, A. Gunnarsson, O. Orwar and A. Jesorka, Soft Matter, 2007, 3, 587 DOI: 10.1039/B610351K

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