Abstract
The aim of this study is to characterize vesicles obtained by the incorporation of the semifluorinated alkane, (perfluoro- n-hexyl)ethane (diblock F 6H 2) to a standard lipid, egg yolk phosphatidylcholine (PC). Large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs), prepared by extrusion, were characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy, zeta potential (ζ-potential) and light scattering. By using the fluorescence spectroscopy technique, the anisotropy of l,6-diphenyl-l,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) probe at different temperatures was determined. It was demonstrated that F 6H 2 is placed inside of the lipid bilayer and that the hydrocarbon acyl chain in the bilayers has higher viscosity in the presence of fluoroalkane. The ζ-potential of the PC–F 6H 2 system is negative and increases (in absolute value) from −10 to −19 mV when the temperature rises from 10 to 25 °C, this last value keeping practically constant with a further increase of temperature. The adsorption of K + ions on the liposome surface was measured by ζ-potential. This adsorption originates a sudden increase of the initial ζ-potential followed by a slight decrease with K + concentration. The application of the DLVO theory of colloidal stability showed a growing dependence of the DLVO potential with K + concentration and consequently a increasing stability.
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