Biophysics Program and Department of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1055, USA.
Small. 2019 Mar;15(9):e1804813. doi: 10.1002/smll.201804813. Epub 2019 Jan 22.
Polymer nanodisks have shown great potential as membrane mimetics that enable the study of functional membrane protein structural biology and also have a wider application in other fields such as drug delivery. To achieve these research goals, the ability to have a cheap, simple, fully customizable platform for future nanodisks technology applications is paramount. Here, a facile functionalization of polyacrylic acid (PAA) with varying hydrophobic groups that form nanodisks at different sizes is successfully demonstrated. The study shows that the choice of hydrophobic group can have a noticeable effect on the polymer solubilization properties and polymer-induced perturbation to the encased lipid bilayer. Due to this robust, tunable chemical synthesis method, PAA is an exciting platform for the future optimization of the hydrophobic, hydrophilic, or direct purposed functionalizations for polymer nanodisks.
聚合物纳米盘作为模拟膜的一种，具有很大的潜力，它可以用于研究功能膜蛋白的结构生物学，并且在药物输送等其他领域也有更广泛的应用。为了实现这些研究目标，拥有一个廉价、简单、完全可定制的平台对于未来的纳米盘技术应用至关重要。在这里，成功地展示了一种通过改变不同的疏水性基团来对聚丙烯酸（PAA）进行功能化的方法，这些疏水性基团可以在不同的尺寸下形成纳米盘。研究表明，疏水性基团的选择会对聚合物的溶解性能以及聚合物对包裹脂质双层的干扰产生显著影响。由于这种强大、可调的化学合成方法，PAA 是一个令人兴奋的平台，可用于未来对聚合物纳米盘的疏水性、亲水性或直接功能化进行优化。
