Abstract
In order to construct the artificial cells and to understand the physicochemical properties of living cells, it is important to clarify the cell-sized confinement effect on the behaviours of bio-inspired polymers. We report the dynamic behaviours of aqueous hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) solution coated with phospholipids in oil (water-in-oil droplets, W/O droplets), accompanied by an increase in the temperature. We directly observed the beginning of phase separation of HPC solution using a fluorescence microscope and confirmed the dependence of such phenomena on droplet size. The results indicate that the start time of phase separation is decreased with an increase in droplet size. The experimental results suggest that the confinement situation accelerates the phase separation of aqueous HPC solutions.
Highlights
A physicochemical approach to artificial cells has been studied with a view to its applications in medical science, in addition to the research of embryonic stem (ES) [1,2] and induced pluripotent stem [3] cells
These facts suggest that the hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) droplets floating in the oil phase are coated with DPPC lipids since rhodamine DHPE and calcein are mainly localized in phospholipid-rich [7] and water-rich [30] regions, respectively
This indicates that phase separation was caused by increase in the temperature since the HPC has lower critical solution temperature (LCST) in the aqueous solution [25,26]
Summary
A physicochemical approach to artificial cells has been studied with a view to its applications in medical science, in addition to the research of embryonic stem (ES) [1,2] and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) [3] cells. It is known that living cells possess the various types of polymers with high concentration, and biochemical reaction and folding of protein might be influenced by crowding [9]. In the 1970s, it was revealed that coil-globule transition of a single polymer chain was induced by various stimuli such as change of solvent composition [10]. Phase separation of polymers has been reported, in addition to the phase transition [14,15]. It is speculated that such fundamental properties and behaviours of polymers are influenced by crowding
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