Automated Assessment of Nanoparticle Influence on Giant Lipid Vesicles from Video Microscopy for Bio-Nano Interaction Studies

Jernej Zupanc (2011) Automated Assessment of Nanoparticle Influence on Giant Lipid Vesicles from Video Microscopy for Bio-Nano Interaction Studies. PhD thesis.

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Abstract

Much evidence suggests that nanoparticles affect cell membrane stability and subsequently exert toxic effects. To assess these interactions research is often conducted on lipid vesicles as substitutes for cells. In this paper, we present a methodology which enables observing thousands of lipid vesicles and analyzing their shape transformations with the use of computerized image processing and data analysis methods. The aim of our study was to test whether this approach is appropriate for assessing effects of nanoparticles (C60 and CoFe2O4) on POPC lipid vesicles. In the experiments presented here, we show that nanoparticles provoked bursting of vesicles as well as their size and morphological changes. The novelty of our approach is in the possibility to investigate a large population of vesicles, and generate statistically relevant results. Our data demonstrates that nanoparticles affected lipid membranes and may have a potential to affect cell membranes as well.

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