Interaction of Chitosan with Cell Membrane Models at the Air−Water Interface

Abstract

In this paper we employed phospholipid Langmuir monolayers as membrane models to probe interactions with chitosan. Using a combination of surface pressure--area and surface potential--area isotherms and rheological measurements with the pendent drop technique, we observed that chitosan interacts with phospholipid molecules at the air-water interface. We propose a model in which chitosan interacts with the phospholipids mainly through electrostatic interactions, but also including H-bonding and hydrophobic forces, depending on the phospholipid packing density. At large areas per molecule, chitosan in the subphase adsorbs onto the monolayer, expanding it. At small areas per molecule, chitosan is located in the subsurface. Indeed, a mixed chitosan-phospholipid monolayer can be transferred onto solid supports, even at high surface pressures. The effects of chitosan on the viscoelastic properties of phospholipid monolayers may be taken as evidence for the ability of chitosan to disrupt cell membranes.

Interaction of O-acylated chitosans with biomembrane models: Probing the effects from hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding

“…Therefore, hydrophobic forces are likely to play an important role, in accordance with our previous results [25][26][27][28] and with the literature [31,32]. Indeed, Krajewska et al [31,32] have shown that non-electrostatic contributions are relevant for chitosan interaction with DPPC, DPPG and cholesterol monolayers in measurements where pH and temperature changes were studied.…”

“…A comparison of the activities from distinct samples of chitosan indicates, however, that non-electrostatic interactions also play an important role [25,26]. Indeed, the importance of these types of interactions has been demonstrated at the molecular level in studies with model membranes [23,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32].…”

“…The latter include the inability to reproduce in vivo conditions for the cell and the use of only a few components of a real cell. Nevertheless, with present technology some types of molecular-level information can only be obtained in membrane models, and therefore several studies have been made with Langmuir monolayers as membrane models [23,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33].…”

The Use of Chitosan-Based Scaffolds to Enhance Regeneration in the Nervous System

“…The long-term storage may have effects and implications on the integrity of chitin and chitosan materials (Kam, Khor, & Lim, 1999), and further investigation is needed to optimize sterilization and storage method conditions. It has been shown that chitosan is capable of forming large phospholipid aggregates by inducing the fusion of small dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine bilayers, which are a major component of the plasma membrane (Pavinatto et al, 2007;. Thus, the use of chitosan as a "fusogen" might be more advantageous as a potential clinical tool relative to nonionic polymers (e.g., PEG or P188).…”

“…The abundance of primary amine groups enables chitosan to be ionically or covalently coupled to various biomolecules because the amine moieties become predominantly protonated and positively charged below pH 6.5, whereas they are increasingly deprotonated at pH 6.5 and above. As a result of its cationic character, chitosan is able to react with polyanion giving rise to polyelectrolyte complexes (Acosta, Aranaz, Peniche, & Heras, 2003;Peniche, Arguelles-Monal, Peniche, & Acosta, 2003). Moreover, due to its positive charge, chitosan can interact with negative molecules such as DNA.…”