TITLE:
The Lipid Bilayer of Biological Vesicles: A Liquid-Crystalline Material as Nanovehicles of Information
AUTHORS:
Annette Alfsen, Irène Tatischeff
KEYWORDS:
Coated Vesicles; Extracellular Vesicles; Lipid Bilayer; Liquid Crystalline Material
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology,
Vol.5 No.2,
April
9,
2014
ABSTRACT: The biological
intracellular vesicles, formed from the cell membrane or from different cell
organelles, play a main role in the intracellular transport, transfer and
exchange of molecules and information. Extracellular vesicles are also detected
in organisms belonging to any of the three main branches of evolution, Archaea,
Bacteria and Eukarya. There is an increasing consensus that these vesicles are
important mediators of intercellular communication. All the intracellular and
extracellular vesicles present a characteristic lipid composition and
organization that governs their formation,
targeting and function. This paper gives an overview of the lipid chemical and
physical structure, strongly related to their biological function. The
properties and role of the different types of lipids from membranes and
vesicles are described. Then, their physical structure is shown as self-associated
in a bilayer and organized as a lyotropic liquid crystal. The present paper
underlies the structural similarity between these biological vesicles and a new
synthetic material, the “liquid crystalline
fullerodendrimers” obtained from the
biological model. It is composed of a basket of carbon associated with a liquid
crystalline material and has been shown to exhibit highly efficient properties
of information transfer. Our observation stresses the essential role of the liquid
crystalline structure of lipids in their function as biological nanovehicles of
information. The comparison with the synthetic material contributes to a better
understanding of the role of lipids for cell communication in living organisms.