Extracellular Vesicles: Biology and Potentials in Cancer Therapeutics

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are particles wrapped in a lipid bilayer membrane and are naturally released from cells [...]

Artificial exosomes for translational nanomedicine

Exosomes are lipid bilayer membrane vesicles and are emerging as competent nanocarriers for drug delivery. The clinical translation of exosomes faces many challenges such as massive production, standard isolation, drug loading, stability and quality control. In recent years, artificial exosomes are emerging based on nanobiotechnology to overcome the limitations of natural exosomes. Major types of artificial exosomes include ‘nanovesicles (NVs)’, ‘exosome-mimetic (EM)’ and ‘hybrid exosomes (HEs)’, which are obtained by top-down, bottom-up and biohybrid strategies, respectively. Artificial exosomes are powerful alternatives to natural exosomes for drug delivery. Here, we outline recent advances in artificial exosomes through nanobiotechnology and discuss their strengths, limitations and future perspectives. The development of artificial exosomes holds great values for translational nanomedicine.

Transmembrane signal transduction by cofactor transport

Synthetic transducers transport externally added metal ion cofactors across the lipid bilayer membrane of vesicles to trigger catalysis of ester hydrolysis in the inner compartment. Signal transduction activity is modulated by hydrazone formation.

Ligand-Decoration Determines the Translational and Rotational Dynamics of Nanoparticles on a Lipid Bilayer Membrane

Nanoparticles (NPs) promise a huge potential for clinically diagnostic and therapeutic applications. However, the nano-bio (e.g., the NP-cell membrane) interactions and underlying mechanisms are still largely elusive. In this work,...

Effects of fatty acid from deep-sea microorganisms on lipid bilayer membrane fluidity under high pressure: comparison of branched-chain and polyunsaturated fatty acid

In this study, the effects of unsaturated and saturated branchedchain fatty acids in biomembranes of microorganisms living under high temperature and high pressure on the fluidity of biomembranes were investigated by time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy measurements. First, the relationship between the order parameter S and the rotational diffusion coefficient Dw, which can be calculated from the fluorescence anisotropy measurements, and the motion of lipid molecules was investigated using lipids with three different structures, and it was found that the former was related to the spacing of lipid molecules and the latter to the motion of lipid molecules. Next, we investigated the S and Dw values of lipid bilayer membrane containing the saturated branched-chain fatty acid 12-methyltridecanoic acid (12-MTA) and the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) cis-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The results showed that 12-MTA increased the S value and decreased the Dw value. On the other hand, DHA tended to reduce the S value and increase the Dw value, albeit slightly. These results mean that 12-MTA narrows the molecular spacing of lipids and inhibits lipid molecular movement, while DHA tends to widen the molecular spacing of lipids and promote lipid molecular movement.