Lipid doping of the sponge (L3) mesophase

DOI: 10.1039/D3SM00578J

Authors: Christopher Brasnett (University of Bristol) , Adam Squires (University of Reading) , Andrew J. Smith (Diamond Light Source) , Annela Seddon (University of Bristol)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Soft Matter

State: Published (Approved)
Published: August 2023
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 17767 , 29558

Abstract: The polymorphism of lipid aggregates has long attracted detailed study due to the myriad factors that determine the final mesophase observed. This study is driven by the need to understand mesophase behaviour for a number of applications, such as drug delivery and membrane protein crystallography. In the case of the latter, the role of the so-called ‘sponge’ (L3 ) mesophase has been often noted, but not extensively studied by itself. The L3 mesophase can be formed in monoolein/water systems on the addition of butanediol to water, which partitions the headgroup region of the membrane, and decreases its elastic moduli. Like cubic mesophases, it is bicontinuous, but unlike them, has no long-range translational symmetry. In our present study, we show that the formation of the L3 phase can delicately depend on the addition of dopant lipids to the mesophase. While electrostatically neutral molecules similar in shape to monoolein (DOPE, cholesterol) have little effect on the general mesophase behaviour, others (DOPC, DDM) significantly reduce the composition at which it can form. Additionally, we show that by combining cholesterol with the anionic lipid DOPG, it is possible to form the largest stable L3 mesophases observed to date, with characteristic lengths over 220 Å.

Subject Areas: Materials, Medicine


Instruments: labSAXS-Offline SAXS and Sample Environment Development , I22-Small angle scattering & Diffraction

Added On: 17/08/2023 09:19

Documents:
d3sm00578j.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Drug Delivery Health & Wellbeing Soft condensed matter physics Materials Science Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Scattering Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)