Novel Fusogenic Liposomes for Fluorescent Cell Labeling and Membrane Modification

Efficient delivery of biomolecules into membranes of living cells as well as cell surface modificaitons are major biotechnological challenges. Here, novel liposome Systems based oil neutral and cationic lipids in combination with lipids modified by aromatic groups are introduced for such applications. The fusion efficiency of these liposome systems was tested on single cells in culture like HEK293m, myofibroblasts, cortical neurons, human macrophages, smooth muscle cells, and even on tissue. of molecules into mammalian cell membranes within 1 to 30 min at fully unchanged cell growth conditions and did not affect cell behavior. We hypothesize that membrane fusions were induced in all cases by the interaction of the positively charged lipids and the delocalized electron system of the aromatic group generating local dipoles and membrane instabilities. Selected applications ranging front basic research to biotechnology are envisaged here.