Controlling the mechanoelasticity of model biomembranes with room-temperature ionic liquids

Biophysics Reviews
Chiara RotellaAntonio Benedetto

Abstract

Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are a vast class of organic non-aqueous electrolytes whose interaction with biomolecules is receiving great attention for potential applications in bio-nano-technology. Recently, it has been shown that RTILs dispersed at low concentrations at the water-biomembrane interface diffuse into the lipid region of the biomembrane, without disrupting the integrity of the bilayer structure. In this letter, we present the first exploratory study on the effect of absorbed RTILs on the mechanoelasticity of a model biomembrane. Using atomic force microscopy, we found that both the rupture force and the elastic modulus increase upon the insertion of RTILs into the biomembrane. This preliminary result points to the potential use of RTILs to control the mechanoelasticity of cell membranes, opening new avenues for applications in bio-medicine and, more generally, bio-nano-technology. The variety of RTILs offers a vast playground for future studies and potential applications.

References

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Aug 6, 2017·Biophysics Reviews·Antonio Benedetto
Mar 7, 2018·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Antonio Benedetto, Pietro Ballone

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Citations

Sep 17, 2020·Biophysics Reviews·Pallavi KumariAntonio Benedetto
Sep 15, 2018·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Massimiliano GalluzziAlessandro Podestà
Jun 8, 2018·The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B·Sandeep KumarVenus S Mithu

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
atomic force microscopy
force measurements
AFM
force
neutron reflectivity
neutron scattering

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