Abstract
Liposomes containing magnetic nanoparticles (magnetoliposomes) have been extensively explored for targeted drug delivery. However, the magnetic effect of nanoparticles movement is also an attractive choice for the conduction of signals in communication systems at the nanoscale level because of the simple manipulation and efficient control. Here, we propose a model for the transmission of electrical and luminous signals taking advantage of magnetophoresis. The study involved three steps. Firstly, magnetite was synthesized and incorporated into fusogenic large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) previously associated with a fluorescent label. Secondly, the fluorescent magnetite-containing LUVs delivered their contents to the giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), which were corroborated by magnetophoresis and fluorescence microscopy. In the third step, magnetophoresis of magnetic vesicles was used for the conduction of the luminous signal from a capillary to an optical fibre connected to a fluorescence detector. Also, the magnetophoresis effects on subsequent transmission of the electrochemical signal were demonstrated using magnetite associated with CTAB micelles modified with ferrocene. We glimpse that these magnetic supramolecular systems can be applied in micro- and nanoscale communication systems.
Highlights
Self-organized structures and nanoparticles with different compositions, forms and sizes have been widely applied in catalysis, theranostic medicine, pharmacology development, nutrition, analytic and sensing techniques [1,2,3,4,5]
We demonstrated that large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) with different compositions could fuse with giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) and act as a delivery system to modify GUV properties
Bare magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles align and undergo magnetophoresis when submitted to an external magnetic field, but they are not able to penetrate in the GUV membranes by the collision
Summary
Self-organized structures and nanoparticles with different compositions, forms and sizes have been widely applied in catalysis, theranostic medicine, pharmacology development, nutrition, analytic and sensing techniques [1,2,3,4,5]. 2 Nanostructured magnetite (Fe3O4) combines the specific properties of nanostructures produced by the quantum confinement of electrons with magnetism [11]. The latter feature allows the controlled movement and targeting by the application of an external magnetic field. Owing to a large number of applications in different areas, in medical and pharmaceutical areas [3,8,13,14,15,16], liposomes have aroused the interest of many research groups over the past decades in the world [17]
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