富勒烯纳米颗粒与脂质膜的相互作用

With the wide applications of fullerene, its environmental effects have attracted the public attention. In this study, effects of fullerene nanoparticles (nC60) on lipid membranes were studied. Giant unilamellar vesicles and supported lipid bilayers were used as the models of cell membranes. Positively-charged and negatively-charged lipid membranes were exposed to the nC60 suspension, and the changes in membrane integrity and fluidity were observed. The results indicated that negatively-charged nC60 disrupted positively-charged giant unilamellar vesicles, but nC60 did not damage the negatively-charged vesicles. Quartz crystal microbalance experiments also confirmed that nC60 only adsorbed on positively-charged supported lipid bilayers, which showed that electrostatic force was the main mechanism in the interaction of nC60 with lipid membranes. In addition, nC60 caused little change in the membrane phase, indicating that phase change was not the reason to damage lipid membranes. This study should provide important information for the safe application of fullerene.