Nanoemulsion drug delivery mechanisms

From the Schlesinger lab: Amphipath-stabilized nanoemulsions can be used to deliver drugs and imagining probes to the cell membranes by contact transfer. We have studied the nature of this delivery using electron microscopy. The nano-emulsion can form a hemifusion complex with bilayer membranes. The upper panel shows the hemifusion complex between the smooth bilayer and the nano-emulsion after freeze fracture to reveal the inner leaflet of the liposome. The lower panels are deep etch platinum replicas of nano-emulsions on call membranes. Targeting of the nano-emulsion to integrin receptors increases the nano-emulsion interaction with the microvilli.

Click to view full-size image…