Lipid-based reversed liquid crystalline mesophases, such as bicontinuous cubic, reversed hexagonal or reversed micellar cubic phases, have attracted deep interest in the last few decades due to their potential applications in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical arenas. One possible application regarded as very promising is that of controlled delivery of functional ingredients. Different crystallographic structures of the lipid mesophase give access to different diffusion coefficients and distinct diffusion modes. It becomes thus crucial to engineer the space group of the mesophase in a controlled way, and ideally, in a stimuli-responsive manner. In this talk I will review the state of the art of diffusion in lipid-based mesophases and our recent contributions to the controlled delivery of molecules and colloids through these systems. I will discuss how the space groups can be made switching upon suitable stimuli such as pH or magnetic field, how the water channels diameters of the mesophases can be engineered and how new topological features, such as perforations of the lipid bilayers by membrane proteins, can be introduced into these systems, allowing access to a large window of diffusion properties and transport modes.
Prof. Raffaele Mezzenga raffaele.mezzenga@hest.ethz.ch
References
1. Garti N, Somasundaran P, Mezzenga R., "Self-Assembled Supramolecular Architectures: Lyotropic Liquid Crystals”, Wiley (2012).
2. Zabara A, Negrini R, Onaca-Fischer O, Mezzenga R “Perforated bicontinuous cubic phases with pH-responsive interconnectivities”. Small, in press.
3. Vallooran JJ., Negrini R., Mezzenga R., "Controlling Anisotropic Drug Diffusion in Lipid-Fe3O4 Nanoparticle Hybrid Mesophases by Magnetic Alignment", Langmuir, 29, 999 (2013)
4. Negrini R., Mezzenga R., "Diffusion, Molecular Separation, and Drug Delivery from Lipid Mesophases with Tunable Water Channels", Langmuir, 28, 16455 (2012).
5. Negrini R., Mezzenga R., "pH-Responsive Lyotropic Liquid Crystals for Controlled Drug Delivery", Langmuir, 27, 5296 (2011).
