NANOPARTICLES IN MODEL BIOMEMBRANES: SELF-ASSEMBLY, INTERACTION AND STABILITY IN SOLUTION

Liposomes and (smart-)nanoparticles represent two major classes of components widely employed for the development of ecient drug delivery systems. While liposomes are traditionally long recognized as excellent research models of biomembranes [1], nanoparticles such as proteins, natural and synthetic polymers and dendrimers reveal attractive properties for the delivery of substances to the interior of a living cell [2-3]. The study of the structure and interaction of nanoparticles during their entrapment and partitioning within model lipid membranes indicates that steric and electrostatic interaction are the crucial parameter that inuence the membrane stability in water solution, while nanoparticles incorporation into the bilayers produces a progressive instability which depends on their concentration and characteristics (such as geometry, surface charge, molecular rigidity) [3-5]. In this respect scattering experiments reveal a powerful tool in order to identify the main features of guest nanoparticles segregation into the lipid nanocarrier, while the modeling of the inter-particle interaction provides substantial insight into the fundamental mechanisms of nanoparticle-lipids interaction in solution [6-8]. The nding of the obtained results outline how the precise control of the interaction between model cell membranes and natural and synthetic nano-objects is of fundamental importance to preserve the releasing eciency at the target site thus increasing the therapeutic index of the incorporated drug and reducing its cytotoxicity.