Polymeric monolayers and liposomes as models for biomembranes. How to bridge the gap between polymer science and membrane biology?

Abstract

Pclyrnsr chemists as poachers in foreign grounds? Why not? Nscromolecular chemistry has become a mature science with all advantages and handicaps of a well-established scientific discipline: many heights have been conquerred and the harvest is r;b!jnGant, but adventure and the future might be else!vtiere. i n tiii!e of bottomed out industrial profits in common old?tics, future polymer chemistry cannot be limited t o repetitive improvement of already successful mass polymers instead o f material science as well as life science where "polvmer thinking" might help t o lead t o new solutions o f current rob1ems.The first hesitant steps on the bridge towards membrane tiologj nave been made.Can polymer chemists really contribute to the understanding o r even mimicking of cell membrane functions and cell-cell interactio!is? Fascinated by the specificity and efficiency of interactions such as the destruction of tumor cells Dy l y m o b ocytes ( 1 ) and having in mind what biochemical analyses tell us about membrane composition, w e may try t o "synthesize" polymeric membrane and cell models. The commonly used model systems ( 2 ) such as planar lipid monolayers at the gas-water interface, bimolecular lipid membranes and spherical IiDosomes are much less stable than natural membrane systems (Fig. 1). r'This contribiition is an extended abstr3ct of a paper presented at the FKG/USSR-Symposium in Taschkent 13P3. It will be publisned in details elsewhere (Aavances in Polymer Science, 1 9 8 4 1.

Bioinspired Block Copolymers: Translating Structural Features from Proteins to Synthetic Polymers

“…For instance, the selfassembly of synthetic amphiphilic polymers in water leads to a fascinating wealth of structures, many of which show analogies and similarities to the structures found in cells and cell organelles. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The self-organization processes can be driven by different types of interactions such as electrostatic interactions, H-bonding, or hydrophobic effect. Synthetic copolymers are particularly suited for such purposes by virtue of their chemical variability.…”

“…Inspired by their biologic ''prototypes,'' we are exploring strategies to confer internal compartmentalization to block copolymer micelles, too, using ternary block copolymers. In fact, hydrophobic domains can be nanostructured when fluorocarbon building blocks are employed, [8,22,[24][25][26] due to the mutual poor compatibility of fluorocarbons and most hydrocarbon derivatives. Though singular impressive examples have been reported most recently, [22,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] and some theoretical consideration has been given to the topic [45][46][47][48][49][50][51] the number of suited block polymers is still marginal.…”

Biosynthetic Polymers as Functional Materials

“…Despite great strides being made in this field, a pioneering perspective from 1984 persists as an exciting yet astounding reality in 2016. 166 Macromolecular chemistry as we know is far from capturing the processes so prevalent and active in living systems. However, we remain inspired by the possibilities that present themselves in the attempt to achieve these lofty heights.…”

Study on the Phase Transition Behavior of Polymerized Liposomes through the Interaction of Diene-Groups in Their Acyl Chains

“…In case of polymerization of head groups, phase transition temperature detected by DSC shifted to a lower temperature. 9 Dioctadecadienoyl dimethyl ammonium bromide, which has the same acyl chains as DODPC, showed the phase transition temperature even after polymerization. 22 In this case, the phase transition temperature of polymerized liposomes was detected with DSC, densitometry and light-646 scattering measurement, and was confirmed to be a little higher than that of monomeric liposomes.…”

“…5 -7 There were a few methods to evaluate phase transition behavior of polymerized liposome membrane such as photobleaching 8 and DSC measurement. 9 * To whom all correspondence should be addressed.…”