Interaction between silicon dioxide and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) vesicles

Many of the cellular process depend on the ability of the membrane to separate areas while allowing exchange and tightly regulated transport of material within and across the membrane to occur, which is the driving principle behind cell communication. The complexity of biological membranes has motivated the development of a wide variety of simpler model systems whose size, geometry and composition can be tailored with precision. This study was conducted to investigate the interactions between silica nanoparticles and Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) vesicles. The size range of DPPC vesicles formed was from 50 to 150 nm. Concentration of silica added to the vesicles was varied from 0.25 to 1.5 mg/ml. The change in vesicle size distribution, localization and positioning of silica nanoparticles in vesicles was studied via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).