人工生体膜のソフトナノテクノロジー

Soft nanotechnology is technology that treats soft and wet materials such as self-assembly
systems in a living body under a relatively moderate condition. We focus our attention on the size
control of liposomes, namely lipid bilayer membranes and performed the soft nanotechnology in
sizing of liposomes under high pressure. Two high-pressure sizing techniques, a method of
continuous pressure relaxation using a phase transition between gel and liquid crystalline phases of
the bilayer membrane and that of a pressure-induced gel phase using a phase transition between
bilayer and nonbilayer membranes, were applied to liposomes of distearoylphosphatidylcholine, and
the effects of the both methods were considered. Further, the application of giant liposomes
controlled by high-pressure sizing to microsensor was briefly described.