Abstract
Liposomes are emerging therapeutic formulations for site-specific delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs. The efficiency and selectivity of drug delivery by these carriers largely rely on their surface properties, shape, and size. There is a growing demand for analytical approaches that can be used for structural and morphological characterization of liposomes at the single-vesicle level. AFM-IR is a modern optical nanoscopic technique that combines the advantages of scanning probe microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. Our findings show that AFM-IR can be used to probe conformational changes in phospholipids that take place upon their assembly into liposomes. Such conclusions can be made based on the corresponding changes in intensities of the lipid vibrational bands as the molecules transition from a solid state into large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs). This spectroscopic analysis of LUV formation together with density functional theory calculations also reveals the extent to which the molecular conformation and local environment of the functional groups alter the AFM-IR spectra of phospholipids. Using melittin as a test protein, we also examined the extent to which LUVs can be used for protein internalization. We found that melittin enters LUVs nearly instantaneously, which protects it from possible structural modifications that are caused by a changing environment. This foundational work empowers AFM-IR analysis of liposomes and opens new avenues for determination of the molecular mechanisms of liposome-drug interactions.