Abstract
Amphiphilic dicationic surfactants, known as gemini surfactants, are currently studied for gene delivery purposes. The gemini surfactant molecule is composed of two hydrophilic “head” groups attached to hydrophobic chains and connected via molecular linker between them. The influence of different concentrations of 1,5-bis (1-imidazolilo-3- decyloxymethyl) pentane chloride (gemini surfactant) on the thermotropic phase behaviour of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) bilayers with and without the presence of DNA was investigated using Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies, small angle scattering of synchrotron radiation and differential scanning calorimetry. With increasing concentration of surfactant in DMPC/DNA systems, a disappearance of pretransition and a decrease in the main phase transition enthalpy and temperature were observed. The increasing intensity of diffraction peaks as a function of surfactant concentration also clearly shows the ability of the surfactant to promote the organisation of lipid bilayers in the multilayer lamellar phase.
Highlights
Self-organization processes are crucial for biological activity of biomolecules such as lipids, nucleic acids and proteins [1,2]
Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectra obtained for DMPC/IMI_oxyC5_C10 and DMPC/IMI_oxyC5_C10/DNA complexes were dominated by vibrational bands of DMPC
The presence of DNA molecules in DMPC/IMI_oxyC5_C10 system did not affect the conformational dynamics of CH2 groups and the trans-gauche transitions connected with the main phase transition
Summary
Self-organization processes are crucial for biological activity of biomolecules such as lipids, nucleic acids and proteins [1,2]. The molecule of a gemini surfactant is composed of two hydrophilic groups (polar “head-groups”) attached to hydrophobic chains and these moieties are interconnected by a molecular linker (at the level of “head-groups”) Their ability to form stable complexes with DNA in low concentrations and of relatively low toxicity make them the valuable components of non-viral vectors [16,17]. Their high conformational plasticity due to the polymethylene linker is often connected with formation of pH-induced H2c phase with DNA molecules [16,17,18,19,20]. Such DMPC/gemini surfactant systems are prospective novel delivery systems for gene therapy [6]
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