Protection capabilities of nanostructured shells toward cell encapsulation: a Saccharomyces/Paramecium model.

In this work we report the formation of nanostructured hybrid objects, made up of living cells encapsulated in a protective multilayer shell assembly of nanostructured polyelectrolyte. Such constructs can be hosted on nanostructured surfaces or can be installed around living organisms, at the right time. Their construction is based on the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly of two oppositely alternated charged polyelectrolytes (PEs) on cell membranes as earlier done for nanocapsules or fuzzy structured nanoshells. This communication reports the optimal conditions for cell encapsulation in terms of nanoshell design and construction. Microsc. Res. Tech. 73:931–936, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.