Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Analytical Chemistry

Magnetic Field Triggers Liposome Release

Confocal laser scanning microscopy used to spy on lipid vesicles as they release their payload in a low-frequency magnetic field

by Lauren K. Wolf
March 21, 2011 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 89, Issue 12

Using confocal laser scanning microscopy, researchers in Europe have determined the release mechanism of a small fluorescent molecule from a lipid vesicle in a low-frequency magnetic field (J. Phys. Chem. Lett., DOI: 10.1021/jz2000936). Because they are biocompatible and can carry a variety of compounds, lipid vesicles are promising drug delivery vehicles. By adding magnetic nanoparticles to the vesicles’ lipid bilayers, scientists can induce liposomes to discharge their small-molecule payloads with an applied alternating magnetic field. In the past, researchers have investigated drug release from lipid vesicles with high-frequency fields (10–500 kHz) that heat the magnetic particles and trigger drug delivery. Low-frequency fields (less than 10 kHz), however, would be safer for in vivo applications. Piero Baglioni of the University of Florence, in Italy, and coworkers report that a 0.2-kHz field leaves magnetic liposomes intact but still causes release of a fluorescent dye through bilayer pore formation, which is promoted by mechanical vibration of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles. The method developed to monitor this model system, the researchers write, can be used to study the release kinetics of drugs, as well as to characterize cell membrane perturbations.

[+]Enlarge
Credit: J. Phys. Chem. Lett.
A low-frequency alternating magnetic field can release small molecules (yellow) from a lipid vesicle containing magnetic nanoparticles (red).
Credit: J. Phys. Chem. Lett.
A low-frequency alternating magnetic field can release small molecules (yellow) from a lipid vesicle containing magnetic nanoparticles (red).

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.