A review on phospholipid vesicles flowing through channels
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Prospective Article
A review on phospholipid vesicles flowing through channels Fikret Aydin*, Department of Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA Xiaolei Chu*, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA Joseph Greenstein*, and Meenakshi Dutt, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA Address all correspondence to Meenakshi Dutt at [email protected] (Received 29 April 2018; accepted 21 June 2018)
Abstract The flow of particles through confined volumes has appeared under different contexts in nature and technology. Some examples include the flow of red blood cells or drug delivery vehicles through capillaries, or surfactant-based particles in nano- or microfluidic cells. The molecular composition of the particles along with external conditions and the characteristics of the confined volume impact the response of the particle to flow. This review focuses on the problem of phospholipid vesicles constrained to flowing in channels. The review examines how experimental and computational approaches have been harnessed to study the response of these particles to the flow.
Introduction The problem of particles flowing through channels is pertinent to a wide range of applications, such as microfluidics, drug delivery, cell sorting and hemostasis.[1] In these applications, the particles are typically carriers of active agents, which are key to the critical functions of a device or an organism. The fluid flow has the potential to impact the structural stability of the particles, thereby impacting the ability to transport active molecules. Hence, a fundamental understanding of the key parameters impacting the flow and characteristics of single and multiple particles in channels becomes imperative. Of particular interest is the flow of phospholipid vesicles through channels as these particles are used for the delivery of therapeutics,[2] and can be designed to mimic biological cells.[3,4] Fluid flow can affect the shape, stability, and relative organization of the phospholipid vesicles with respect to the channel walls and each other (this is in the case of multiple particles flowing in the channel). The shear stresses[3] can impact the molecular organization and dynamics in the bilayer of the vesicle, thereby translating into changes in the shape and structural stability of the vesicles. External conditions such as temperature,[5,6] salt concentration, and pH directly control the characteristics of the molecules within the bilayer, and therefore impact the bilayer properties. Hence, external conditions can also determine the flow of single and multiple vesicles in a channel. Various experimental investigations have probed the impact of molecular composition, channel characteristics, and external
* Equally contributing co-authors.
conditions on the flow of phospholipid vesicles. Experimental studies[7,8] have investigated the effects of th
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