GBB seminar Marc Stuart

Electron Microscopy

Morphological characterization of liposomes by electron microscopy

Abstract:

Liposomes and other vesicular objects have attracted the scientific world since the discovery of liposomes by Bangham almost 65 year ago. But it was not only the pioneering work on phospholipids and bio-membranes that led to their discovery. Pioneering characterization methods for electron microscopy led to the discovery of “spherulites” composed of concentric lamellae from lecithin that paved the way to the liposomal concept. Classically liposomes are made from natural phospholipids from various sources, but nowadays many natural and synthetic phospholipids and other amphiphilic molecules are available. This leads to an almost endless number of variations in tail length, charge and head-group, each having an effect on the phase behavior. Due to the biological nature of the semi-permeable lipid membrane, liposomes are ideal for studying membrane transport with reconstituted membrane proteins and for the encapsulation of drugs or as vehicle for transfection of cells with DNA or RNA. In all cases characterization of liposomes is a crucial step in a successful application.