Journal article
Vesicles from docosahexaenoic acid.
- Namani T Department of Materials, ETH, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 10, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
- Ishikawa T
- Morigaki K
- Walde P
- 2006-07-11
Published in:
- Colloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces. - 2007
Colloids
Cryoelectron Microscopy
Docosahexaenoic Acids
Fluoresceins
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Molecular Structure
Titrimetry
English
In dilute aqueous solution and at room temperature, cis-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) self-assembles into vesicles (self-closed bilayers), if the molar ratio of the neutral form of DHA to anionic DHA is kept between 1:1 and 1:3 (corresponding to a bulk pH between 8.5 and 9.2 for a system with 10 mM DHA). By using polycarbonate membrane extrusion, stable unilamellar DHA vesicles with an average diameter of 80 nm can be prepared at pH 8.8. Cryo-transmission electron microscopy indicates that the width of the DHA bilayers in the vesicles is clearly below twice the length of an extended DHA molecule, indicating a high conformational flexibility of DHA within the vesicle bilayer. These DHA bilayers have a similar thickness like bilayers of vesicles prepared at pH 8.5 from oleic acid (cis-9-octadecenoic acid). Using calcein as fluorescent reference compound, it is shown that water-soluble molecules can be encapsulated inside DHA vesicles which may make them interesting for medical or food applications.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- closed
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2006.05.022
- PMID 16829059
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/152080
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