Apoptosis method for biomimetic artificial cell membranes employing nanophotonic theranostics

Abstract

Colloidal biomimetic disc shaped metallic gold shells with a uniform size distribution were synthesized using red blood cells as sacrificial templates. Red blood cells do not reproduce by dividing; hence they are truly colloidal particles. They are almost completely filled with hemoglobin allowing for an extremely dynamic work cycle with long intercellular vacations separated by self-destructive workloads on the cell surface. This method of exchange is emulated in the presented research. The colloidal disc shaped gold shells were coated with multiple layers of 50nm fluorescent polystyrene spheres followed by chemical removal of the gold core. This process yielded hollow synthetic biomimetic membranes with a strong optical signature that are diffusely permeable to water and impervious to particles larger than a few nanometers. Currently, the most successful synthetic intravascular oxygen carrying materials are perfluorocarbons; however, they break down quickly in roughly 50 hours from overexposure to their in vivo workload. The meso-porous membrane cages will be filled with hundreds of fibrous spheroid conglomerates composed of perfluorocarbon chains that can protrude through the meso-porous membrane as they thermally jostle about the cage. This is to statistically limit the exposure time of individual polymer strands to the self-destructive work at the surface and hopefully will greatly increase the effective functioning lifetime of the perfluorocarbon-based synthetic red blood cell. The artificial membranes are intentionally designed to be weak allowing them to flex under normal pressures and to hopefully burst under more extreme conditions such as blockage.