Costanza Montis1, Annalisa Salvatore2, Francesco Valle3, Lucia Paolini4, Francesco Carlà5, Paolo Bergese4, Debora Berti2. 1. Department of Chemistry, University of Florence and CSGI, via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: montis@csgi.unifi.it. 2. Department of Chemistry, University of Florence and CSGI, via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Florence, Italy. 3. ISMN-CNR and CSGI via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy. 4. Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia and CSGI, Viale Europa 11, 25123 Brescia, Italy. 5. ESRF, The European Synchrotron, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France; Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Fermi Ave, Didcot OX11 0DE, UK.
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS: Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are natural nanosized lipid vesicles involved in most intercellular communication pathways. Given their nature, they represent natural cell membrane models, with intermediate complexity between real and synthetic lipid membranes. Here we compare EVs-derived (EVSLB) and synthetic Supported Lipid Bilayers (SLBs) in the interaction with cationic superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). The aim is twofold: (i) exploit SPIONs as nanometric probes to investigate the features of EVSLBs as novel biogenic platforms; (ii) contribute at improving the knowledge on the behavior of SPIONs with biological interfaces. EXPERIMENTS: Quartz Crystal Microbalance, X-ray Reflectivity, Grazing-incidence Small-angle X-ray Scattering, Atomic Force Microscopy, Confocal Microscopy data on SPIONs-EVSLB were systematically compared to those on SPIONs challenging synthetic SLBs, taken as references. FINDINGS: The ensemble of experimental results highlights the much stronger interaction of SPIONs with EVSLBs with respect to synthetic SLBs. This evidence strongly supports the hypotheses on the peculiar structure of EVSLBs, with cushioned non-flat areas and extended exposed surface; in addition, it suggests that these features are relevant in the response of biogenic membranes to nano-objects. These findings contribute to the fundamental knowledge on EVSLBs, key for their development both as biomimetic membranes, or as platforms for biomedical applications.
HYPOTHESIS: Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are natural nanosized lipid vesicles involved in most intercellular communication pathways. Given their nature, they represent natural cell membrane models, with intermediate complexity between real and synthetic lipid membranes. Here we compare EVs-derived (EVSLB) and synthetic Supported Lipid Bilayers (SLBs) in the interaction with cationic superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). The aim is twofold: (i) exploit SPIONs as nanometric probes to investigate the features of EVSLBs as novel biogenic platforms; (ii) contribute at improving the knowledge on the behavior of SPIONs with biological interfaces. EXPERIMENTS: Quartz Crystal Microbalance, X-ray Reflectivity, Grazing-incidence Small-angle X-ray Scattering, Atomic Force Microscopy, Confocal Microscopy data on SPIONs-EVSLB were systematically compared to those on SPIONs challenging synthetic SLBs, taken as references. FINDINGS: The ensemble of experimental results highlights the much stronger interaction of SPIONs with EVSLBs with respect to synthetic SLBs. This evidence strongly supports the hypotheses on the peculiar structure of EVSLBs, with cushioned non-flat areas and extended exposed surface; in addition, it suggests that these features are relevant in the response of biogenic membranes to nano-objects. These findings contribute to the fundamental knowledge on EVSLBs, key for their development both as biomimetic membranes, or as platforms for biomedical applications.