Generating Giant Membrane Vesicles from Live Cells with Preserved Cellular Properties

Abstract

<jats:p>Biomimetic giant membrane vesicles, with size and lipid compositions comparable to cells, have been recognized as an attractive experimental alternative to living systems. Due to the similarity of their membrane structure to that of body cells, cell-derived giant plasma membrane vesicles have been used as a membrane model for studying lipid/protein behavior of plasma membranes. However, further application of biomimetic giant membrane vesicles has been hampered by the side-effects of chemical vesiculants and the utilization of osmotic buffer. We herein develop a facile strategy to derive giant membrane vesicles (GMVs) from mammalian cells in biofriendly medium with high yields. These GMVs preserve membrane properties and adaptability for surface modification and encapsulation of exogenous molecules, which would facilitate their potential biological applications. Moreover, by loading GMVs with therapeutic drugs, GMVs could be employed for drug transport to tumor cells, which represents another step forward in the biomedical application of giant membrane vesicles. This study highlights biocompatible GMVs with biomimicking membrane surface properties and adaptability as an ideal platform for drug delivery strategies with potential clinical applications.</jats:p>

Cell‐Derived Vesicles as TRPC1 Channel Delivery Systems for the Recovery of Cellular Respiratory and Proliferative Capacities

“…Previously published protocols for producing cell‐derived vesicles have rendered important information about cellular signal transduction as well as revealed a provocative potential for such platforms to serve as biological‐based sensors or as vehicles for drug delivery. [ 6–9,54,55 ] Here, we reveal a novel potential of CDVs as biological sensors for temperature (menthol‐sensitivity) or magnetic fields and furthermore demonstrated that CDVs possess the capacity to recover sensory transduction of developmental importance for potential therapeutic use in regenerative medicine. Importantly, these signaling and developmental attributes of CDVs can be ascribed to their expression of TRP channels associated with the surface membrane.…”

Protocells programmed through artificial reaction networks

“…These synthetic lipid membranes were widely used in synthetic biology approaches when constructing protocells, but they lacked the inherent complexity of natural membranes. To solve this problem, Peng et al 92 used living mammalian cells to generate cell-mimicking micrometer-scale giant unilamellar vesicles 93 and reported the assembly and disassembly of DNA nanoprisms on the membrane of these vesicles controlled by DNA strand hybridization and toehold-mediated strand displacement, which is the dynamic basis for constructing scaled-up DNA reaction networks on the protocell surface. Recently, a sophisticated articial DNA reaction network was successfully tted to the surface of giant vesicles to create a protocell, which could both sense incoming stimuli and emit a feedback response to eliminate the stimuli (Fig.…”

In Vitro Assays: Friends or Foes of Cell-Penetrating Peptides

“…Liu and co-workers pointed out that the chemical vesiculants (e.g., formaldehyde and dithiothreitol) and osmotic buffers that are required for vesicle formation could disrupt membrane structure. They herein developed a high yield nanomaterial-assisted strategy that used light irradiation to generate GPMVs in biocompatible medium such as Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium [ 148 ]. Further optimization of GPMVs has expanded their application as an intact membrane with lipid and protein complexity of mammalian plasma membrane.…”