Charge and Coordination Directed Liposome Fusion onto SiO2 and TiO2 Nanoparticles

TiO2 and SiO2 are very useful materials for building biointerfaces. A particularly interesting aspect is their interaction with lipid bilayers. Many past research efforts focused on phosphocholine (PC) lipids, which form supported lipid bilayers (SLB) on SiO2 at physiological conditions but are adsorbed as intact liposomes on TiO2. Low pH was required to form PC SLBs on TiO2. This work intends to understand the surface forces and chemistry responsible for such differences. Two charge neutral lipids: 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) and 2-((2,3-bis(oleoyloxy)propyl)dimethylammonio)ethyl ethyl phosphate (DOCPe) and two negatively charged lipids: 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine (DOPS) and 2-((2,3-bis(oleoyloxy)propyl)dimethylammonio)ethyl hydrogen phosphate (DOCP) were used. Using calcein leakage assays, adsorption measurement, cryo-TEM, and washing, we concluded that charge is the dominating factor on SiO2. The two neutral lipids form SLB on SiO2 at pH 3 and 7, but the two negative...