Investigation of Phospholipid Bilayer Interactions With Substrates, Polymers, and Nanoparticles

Abstract

182 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.The last experiments described investigate the ability of water dispersed fullerene aggregates to interact with and disrupt cell membranes. Bilayers composed of both neat zwitterionic lipid headgroups and cationic lipid headgroups were examined to investigate charge interactions between the lipid headgroups and negatively charged fullerene aggregates. Our results indicate that water soluble fullerenes adhere to lipid headgroups and may disrupt cellular functions by either radical generation or cell membrane passivition.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD