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Improved anticancer drugs and drug carriers are needed in combination therapies, such as hyperthermia-assisted chemotherapy. Liposomal drug carriers with advanced functions are attractive candidates for targeted accumulation and drug release in response to heat stimulus. We report on the design of liposomes with a heat-activated surface function. Our design is based on asymmetric lipid membranes with a defined gel to liquid-crystalline phase-transition temperature around 41°C. Asymmetry between the inner and the outer membrane leaflets was generated through selective PEGylation of cationic lipids in the outer membrane leaflet. In a physiological buffer, the PEGylated asymmetric liposomes had a neutral zeta potential and did not bind to planar anionic model membranes. In contrast, following upon heat-activation, binding of liposomes to the model membranes occurred. Release of a hydrophilic dye encapsulated in the asymmetric liposomes occurred at 40°C. Enhanced uptake of the asymmetric liposomes by hypopharyngeal carcinoma cells (FaDu cells) was observed when hyperthermia was applied compared to experiments performed at 37°C. These results show the potential of asymmetric liposomes for localized delivery of drugs into cells in response to (external) temperature stimulus., (Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Multilayer coatings of polycationic chitosan paired with polyanionic semi-synthetic cellulose sulfates or heparin were prepared by the layer-by-layer method. Two different cellulose sulfates (CS) with high (CS2.6) and intermediate (CS1.6) sulfation degree were prepared by sulfation of cellulose. Multilayers were fabricated at pH 4 and the resulting films were characterized by several methods. The multilayer 'optical' mass, measured by surface plasmon resonance, showed little differences in the total mass adsorbed irrespective of which polyanion was used. In contrast, 'acoustic' mass, calculated from quartz crystal micro balance with dissipation monitoring, showed the lowest mass and dissipation values for CS2.6 (highest sulfation degree) multilayers indicating formation of stiffer layers compared to heparin and CS1.6 layers which led to higher mass and dissipation values. Water contact angle and zeta potential measurements indicated formation of more distinct layers with using heparin as polyanion, while use of CS1.6 and CS2.6 resulted into more fuzzy intermingled multilayers. CS1.6 multilayers significantly supported adhesion and growth of C2C12 cells where as only few cells attached and started to spread initially on CS2.6 layers but favoured long term cell growth. Contrastingly cells adhered and grew poorly on to the layers of heparin. This present study shows that cellulose sulfates are attractive candidates for multilayer formation as potential substratum for controlled cell adhesion. Since a peculiar interaction of cellulose sulfates with growth factors was found during previous studies, immobilization of cellulose sulfate in multilayer systems might be of great interest for tissue engineering applications., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

For the development of advanced hemocompatible biomaterial functions, there is an unmet demand for in vitro evaluation techniques addressing platelet-surface interactions. We show that the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) monitoring technique, here combined with light microscopy, provides a surface sensitive technique that allows for real-time monitoring of the activation and aggregation of the surface-confined platelets on TiO2. The QCM-D signal monitored during adhesion and activation of platelets on TiO2 coated surfaces was found to be different in platelet-poor and platelet-rich environment although light microscopy images taken for each of the two cases looked essentially the same. Interestingly, aggregation of activated platelets was only observed in a protein-rich environment. Our results show that a layer of plasma proteins between the TiO2 surface and the platelets strongly influences the coupling between the platelets and the underlying substrate, explaining both the observed QCM-D signals and the ability of the platelets to aggregate., (Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cu-containing nanoparticles are used in various applications in order to e.g. achieve antimicrobial activities and to increase the conductivity of fluids and polymers. Several studies have reported on toxic effects of such particles but the mechanisms are not completely clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the interactions between cell membranes and well-characterized nanoparticles of CuO, Cu metal, a binary Cu-Zn alloy and micron-sized Cu metal particles. This was conducted via in vitro investigations of the effects of the nanoparticles on (i) cell membrane damage on lung epithelial cells (A549), (ii) membrane rupture of red blood cells (hemolysis), complemented by (iii) nanoparticle interaction studies with a model lipid membrane using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). The results revealed that nanoparticles of the Cu metal and the Cu-Zn alloy were both highly membrane damaging and caused a rapid (within 1h) increase in membrane damage at a particle mass dose of 20 μg/mL, whereas the CuO nanoparticles and the micron-sized Cu metal particles showed no such effect. At similar nanoparticle surface area doses, the nano and micron-sized Cu particles showed more similar effects. The commonly used LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) assay for analysis of membrane damage was found impossible to use due to nanoparticle-assay interactions. None of the particles induced any hemolytic effects on red blood cells when investigated up to high particle concentrations (1mg/mL). However, both Cu and Cu-Zn nanoparticles caused hemoglobin aggregation/precipitation, a process that would conceal a possible hemolytic effect. Studies on interactions between the nanoparticles and a model membrane using QCM-D indicated a small difference between the investigated particles. Results of this study suggest that the observed membrane damage is caused by the metal release process at the cell membrane surface and highlight differences in reactivity between metallic nanoparticles of Cu and Cu-Zn and nanoparticles of CuO., (Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Molecular interactions involving glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are important for biological processes in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and at cell surfaces, and also in biotechnological applications. Enzymes in the ECM constantly modulate the molecular structure and the amount of GAGs in our tissues. Specifically, the changeable sulfation patterns of many GAGs are expected to be important in interactions with proteins. Biotinylation is a convenient method for immobilizing molecules to surfaces. When studying interactions at the molecular, cell and tissue level, the native properties of the immobilized molecule, i.e. its biofunctionality, need to be retained upon immobilization. Here, the GAGs hyaluronan (HA) and chondroitin sulfate (CS), and synthetically sulfated derivatives of the two, were immobilized using biotin-streptavidin binding. The degree of biotinylation and the placement of biotin groups (end-on/side-on) were varied. The introduction of biotin groups could have unwanted effects on the studied molecule, but this aspect that is not always straightforward to evaluate. Hyaluronidase, an enzyme that degrades HA and CS in the ECM, was investigated as a probe to evaluate the biofunctionality of the immobilized GAGs, using both quartz crystal microbalance and high-performance liquid chromatography. Our results showed that end-on biotinylated HA was efficiently degraded by hyaluronidase, whereas already a low degree of side-on biotinylation destroyed the degrading ability of the enzyme. Synthetically introduced sulfate groups also had this effect. Hence hyaluronidase degradation is a cheap and easy way to investigate how molecular function is influenced by the introduced functional groups. Binding experiments with the proteoglycan aggrecan emphasized the influence of protein size and surface orientation of the GAGs for in-depth studies of GAG behavior., (Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Spontaneously beating human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes clusters (CMCs) represent an excellent in vitro tool for studies of human cardiomyocyte function and for pharmacological cardiac safety assessment. Such testing typically requires highly trained operators, precision plating, or large cell quantities, and there is a demand for real-time, label-free monitoring of small cell quantities, especially rare cells and tissue-like structures. Array formats based on sensing of electrical or optical properties of cells are being developed and in use by the pharmaceutical industry. A potential alternative to these techniques is represented by the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) technique, which is an acoustic surface sensitive technique that measures changes in mass and viscoelastic properties close to the sensor surface (from nm to μm). There is an increasing number of studies where QCM-D has successfully been applied to monitor properties of cells and cellular processes. In the present study, we show that spontaneous beating of CMCs on QCM-D sensors can be clearly detected, both in the frequency and the dissipation signals. Beating rates in the range of 66-168 bpm for CMCs were detected and confirmed by simultaneous light microscopy. The QCM-D beating profile was found to provide individual fingerprints of the hPS-CMCs. The presented results point towards acoustical assays for evaluation cardiotoxicity., (Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Organelle transport studies are often performed using melanophores from lower vertebrates due to the ease of inducing movements of pigment granules (melanosomes) and visualizing them by optical microscopy. Here, we present a novel methodology to monitor melanosome translocation (which is a light-sensitive process) in the dark using the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) technique. This acoustic sensing method was used to study dispersion and aggregation of melanosomes in Xenopus laevis melanophores. Reversible sensor responses, correlated to optical reflectance measurements, were obtained by alternating addition and removal of melatonin (leading to melanosome aggregation) and melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) (leading to melanosome dispersion). By confocal microscopy, it was shown that a vertical redistribution of melanosomes occurred during the dispersion/aggregation processes. Furthermore, the transport process was studied in the presence of cytoskeleton-perturbing agents disrupting either actin filaments (latrunculin) or microtubules (nocodazole). Taken together, these experiments suggest that the acoustic responses mainly originate from melanosome transport along actin filaments (located close to the cell membrane), as expected based on the penetration depth of the QCM-D technique. The results clearly indicate the potential of QCM-D for studies of intracellular transport processes in melanophores., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The aim of the present work is to develop a protocol for the specific immobilization of liposomes, via tethers, onto functionalized gold surfaces, and in addition to give one example for such a surface architecture. All surface functionalization steps are charcerized and controlled. First, mixed thiolate self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) prepared from COOH- and OCH(3)-terminated oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) alkane thiols were characterized by polarization modulation reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (PM-RAIRS) and by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The composition of the mixed SAMs was found to be close to that of the thiol solution. Next, grafting of biotin conjugated with an NH(2)-terminated OEG spacer (biotin-OEG-NH(2)) to the COOH groups via conventional amine coupling was optimized with respect to the COOH/OCH(3) ratio of the SAM. The grafting of biotin-OEG-NH(2) was assessed by monitoring the binding of neutravidin and albumin to the biotinylated surfaces using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), as well as by PM-RAIRS. It was shown that a COOH/OCH(3) ratio of around 0.3 was sufficient to saturate the SAMs with neutravidin. Finally, tethering of liposomes onto the neutravidin-terminated SAMs, was achieved. As an application example, of a close packed layer of tethered liposomes was exposed to the membrane-penetrating peptide melittin. As monitored by QCM-D, the liposomes fused when interacting with the peptide and ruptured into an extended, supported lipid bilayer over the whole surface. In summary, the described surface modification has potential for the development of assays requiring tethered intact liposomes, or tethered planar bilayers. Such surface architectures are especially important for the study of transmembrane proteins and peptides.