Structural modification induced by Gold Nanoparticles on Lipid Bilayers

The terapeutic efficiency and citotoxicity of inorganic nanoparticles (NP) for nanomedicine is related to NP interactions with biological interfaces like cell membranes. Synthetic model membranes are ideal platforms of controlled composition and geometry to study phenomena at the nano-bio interface. We recently investigated the interaction of the most common inorganic NP, citrated gold nanoparticles (AuNP), with synthetic lipid vesicles of different compositions, leading to their 2D aggregation on the liposomal surface. We recently performed SAXS at ESRF, finding that size and shape of AuNPs-aggregates markedly depend on the physicochemical features of the target membrane. The aim of the proposed SANS experiment is to complete the structural characterization of liposomes-AuNP hybrids, using neutrons instead of X-rays, to better highlight the lipid component of the liposomes-AuNP hybrids.