Coating Graphene Oxide with Lipid Bilayers Greatly Decreases Its Hemolytic Properties

Abstract

Toxicity evaluation for the proper use of graphene oxide (GO) in biomedical applications involving intravenous injections is crucial, but the GO circulation time and blood interactions are largely unknown. It is thought that GO may cause physical disruption (hemolysis) of red blood cells. The aim of this work is to characterize the interaction of GO with model and cell membranes and use this knowledge to improve GO hemocompatibility. We have found that GO interacts with both neutral and negatively charged lipid membranes; binding is decreased beyond a certain concentration of negatively charged lipids and favored in high-salt buffers. After this binding occurs, some of the vesicles remain intact, while others are disrupted and spread over the GO surface. Neutral membrane vesicles tend to break down and extend over the GO, while vesicles with negatively charged membranes are mainly bound to the GO without disruption. GO also interacts with red blood cells and causes hemolysis; hemolysis is decreased when GO is previously coated with lipid membranes, particularly with pure phosphatidylcholine vesicles.

Patches and Blebs: A Comparative Study of the Composition and Biophysical Properties of Two Plasma Membrane Preparations from CHO Cells

“…Then, 80 µL sonicated 0.4 mM SUV formed from CHO lipid extract were added on top of the mica slip. BioCell temperature was gradually increased (5 • C every 5 min) up to 80 • C. Vesicles were left to adsorb and extend for 30 min keeping the sample temperature at 80 • C. A further 30 min were allowed for the samples to equilibrate at room temperature before performing five washing steps with calcium-free buffer in order to discard non-adsorbed vesicles and remove the remaining Ca 2+ cations [34].…”

CHO/LY-B cell growth under limiting sphingolipid supply: correlation between lipid composition and biophysical properties of sphingolipid-restricted cell membranes+

“…A NanoWizard II AFM (JPK Instruments, Berlin, Germany) was used to perform topographic measurements under contact mode scanning (constant vertical deflection). For measurements, the AFM was coupled to a Leica microscope and mounted onto a Halcyonics Micro 40 antivibration table (Halcyonics, Inc., Menlo Park, CA) and inside an acoustic enclosure (JPK Instruments, Berlin, Germany) 53 . V-shaped MLCT Si 3 N 4 cantilevers (Bruker, Billerica, MA) with nominal spring constants of 0.1 or 0.5 N/m.…”

“…Vesicles were let to adsorb and extend for 30 min keeping the sample temperature at 80°C. Samples were left to equilibrate for 30 min at room temperature before performing five washing steps with non-CaCl 2 buffer in order to discard non-adsorbed vesicles and remove the remaining Ca 2+ cations 53 . Isolated PM patches for force spectroscopy were prepared as previously described 37,42 , this time using polylysine-coated mica slips instead of glass-bottom dishes.…”

Hemocompatibility of Carbon Nanostructures

“…All Recent studies of GO interactions with model and cell membranes have shown that GO interacts with neutral and negatively charged lipid membranes, leading to the rupture of neutral membrane vesicles but not of negatively charged ones. Coating GO with lipid membranes (e.g., phosphatidylcholine) was, thus, proposed as an effective strategy for decreasing the hemolytic effect of pristine GO [214].…”