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Phase-Separated Liposomes Enhance the Efficiency of Macromolecular Delivery to the Cellular Cytoplasm

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An Erratum to this article was published on 07 June 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

Introduction

From viruses to organelles, fusion of biological membranes is used by diverse biological systems to deliver macromolecules across membrane barriers. Membrane fusion is also a potentially efficient mechanism for the delivery of macromolecular therapeutics to the cellular cytoplasm. However, a key shortcoming of existing fusogenic liposomal systems is that they are inefficient, requiring a high concentration of fusion-promoting lipids in order to cross cellular membrane barriers.

Objectives

Toward addressing this limitation, our experiments explore the extent to which membrane fusion can be amplified by using the process of lipid membrane phase separation to concentrate fusion-promoting lipids within distinct regions of the membrane surface.

Methods

We used confocal fluorescence microscopy to investigate the integration of fusion-promoting lipids into a ternary lipid membrane system that separated into liquid-ordered and liquid-disordered membrane phases. Additionally, we quantified the impact of membrane phase separation on the efficiency with which liposomes transferred lipids and encapsulated macromolecules to cells, using a combination of confocal fluorescence imaging and flow cytometry.

Results

Here we report that concentrating fusion-promoting lipids within phase-separated lipid domains on the surfaces of liposomes significantly increases the efficiency of liposome fusion with model membranes and cells. In particular, membrane phase separation enhanced the delivery of lipids and model macromolecules to the cytoplasm of tumor cells by at least four-fold in comparison to homogenous liposomes.

Conclusions

Our findings demonstrate that phase separation can enhance membrane fusion by locally concentrating fusion-promoting lipids on the surface of liposomes. This work represents the first application of lipid membrane phase separation in the design of biomaterials-based delivery systems. Additionally, these results lay the ground work for developing fusogenic liposomes that are triggered by physical and molecular cues associated with target cells.

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Change history

  • 07 June 2017

    An erratum to this article has been published.

Abbreviations

DPPC:

1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine

DOPC:

1,2 Dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine

DOTAP:

1,2 Dioleoyl–3-trimethylammonium-propane

PEG2000-DPPE:

1,2 Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[Methoxy(Polyethylene glycol)-2000]

Texas Red-DPPE:

Texas Red-1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine

Oregon Green-DPPE:

Oregon Green-1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine

mol%:

Molar fraction

GUV:

Giant unilamellar vesicle

SUV:

Small unilamellar vesicle

Rhodamine B-dextran:

Rhodamine B isothiocyanate-dextran average molecular weight of 10,000

TRITC-dextran:

Tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate-dextran average molecular weight of 20,000

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research (DMR 1352487 to Stachowiak) and also National Institute of General Medical Science (Grant No. GM112065). We thank the BME Community of Undergraduate Research Scholars for Cancer (BME CUReS Cancer) an NSF sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at The University of Texas at Austin for enabling Grant Ashby to work in the Stachowiak Laboratory at UT Austin. We thank the laboratories of Professors Aaron Baker and Janet Zoldan for assistance with lentiviral transfection.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

All authors, including Z. I. Imam, L. E Kenyon, G. Ashby, F. Nagib, M. Mendicino, C. Zhao, A. K. Gadok, and J. C. Stachowiak, declare that they have no conflict of interest.

ETHICAL APPROVAL

No human studies were carried out by the authors for this article. No animal studies were carried out by the authors for this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Zachary I. Imam, Laura E. Kenyon, Grant Ashby, Fatema Nagib, Morgan Mendicino, Chi Zhao, Avinash K. Gadok & Jeanne C. Stachowiak

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  1. Zachary I. Imam
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  2. Laura E. Kenyon
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  3. Grant Ashby
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  4. Fatema Nagib
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  6. Chi Zhao
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  7. Avinash K. Gadok
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  8. Jeanne C. Stachowiak
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Correspondence to Jeanne C. Stachowiak.

Additional information

Associate Editor Michael R. King oversaw the review of this article.

Jeanne C. Stachowiak, Ph.D Dr. Jeanne Stachowiak completed her undergraduate education in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2002. She received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004, under the supervision of Professor Arun Majumdar and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008 under the supervision of Professor Daniel Fletcher. From 2008 to 2011 Dr. Stachowiak served as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories, where her independent research program explored basic biophysical questions and practical applications of lipid membrane materials and systems. Dr. Stachowiak has served as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin since January 2012. Through quantitative molecular-scale measurements and the design of biomimetic materials, research in her laboratory aims to understand the physical basis of cellular membrane organization and to design biologically-inspired materials and systems for biomedical applications.

This article is part of the 2017 CMBE Young Innovators special issue.

An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12195-017-0491-x.

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Imam, Z.I., Kenyon, L.E., Ashby, G. et al. Phase-Separated Liposomes Enhance the Efficiency of Macromolecular Delivery to the Cellular Cytoplasm. Cel. Mol. Bioeng. 10, 387–403 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12195-017-0489-4

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