TY - JOUR T1 - Physicochemical characterization of artificial nanoerythrosomes derived from erythrocyte ghost membranes JF - Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces Y1 - 2015 A1 - Deák, Róbert A1 - Mihály, Judith A1 - Szigyártó, Imola Cs. A1 - András Wacha A1 - Lelkes, Gábor A1 - Bóta, Attila KW - CREDO KW - Erythrocyte KW - Freeze fracture TEM KW - Infrared spectroscopy KW - Nanoerythrosomes KW - Protein to lipid ratio KW - Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) KW - Vesicles AB - Colloidal stabile nanoerythrosomes with 200 nm average diameter were formed from hemoglobin-free erythrocyte ghost membrane via sonication and membrane extrusion. The incorporation of extra lipid (1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, DPPC), added to the sonicated ghosts, caused significant changes in the thermotropic character of the original membranes. As a result of the increased DPPC ratio the chain melting of the hydrated DPPC system and the characteristic small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) of the lipid bilayers appeared. Significant morphological changes were followed by transmission electron microscopy combined with freeze fracture method (FF-TEM). After the ultrasonic treatment the large entities of erythrocyte ghosts transformed into nearly spherical nanoerythrosomes with diameters between 100 and 300 nm and at the same time a great number of 10–30 nm large membrane proteins or protein clusters were dispersed in the aqueous medium. The infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) pointed out, that the sonication did not cause changes in the secondary structures of the membrane proteins under our preparation conditions. About fivefold of extra lipid – compared to the lipid content of the original membrane – caused homogeneous dispersion of nanoerythrosomes however the shape of the vesicles was not uniform. After the addition of about tenfold of DPPC, monoform and monodisperse nanoerythrosomes became typical. The outer surfaces of these roughly spherical objects were frequently polygonal, consisting of a net of pentagons and hexagons. VL - 135 SN - 0927-7765 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927776515301004 JO - Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces ER -