Use of Nanosphere Self-Assembly to Pattern Nanoporous Membranes for the Study of Extracellular Vesicles

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Nanoscale biocomponents naturally released by cells, such as extracellular vesicles (EVs), have recently gained interest due to their therapeutic and diagnostic potential. Membrane based isolation and co-culture systems have been utilized in an effort to study EVs and their effects. Nevertheless, improved platforms for the study of small EVs are still needed. Suitable membranes, for isolation and co-culture systems, require pore sizes to reach into the nanoscale. These pore sizes cannot be achieved through traditional lithographic techniques and conventional thick nanoporous membranes commonly exhibit low permeability. Here we utilized nanospheres, similar in size and shape to the targeted small EVs, as patterning features for the fabrication of freestanding SiN membranes (120 nm thick) released in minutes through a sacrificial ZnO layer. We evaluated the feasibility of separating subpopulation of EVs based on size using these membranes. The membrane used here showed an effective size cut-off of 300 nm with the majority of the EVs ≤200 nm. This work provides a convenient platform with great potential for studying subpopulations of EVs.</jats:p>

An Emerging Fluorescence-Based Technique for Quantification and Protein Profiling of Extracellular Vesicles

“…33,35,36 Therefore, flow cytometry analysis of EVs typically requires a postlabeling washing step to remove the unbound dyes for accurate analysis. Different techniques such as ultracentrifugation, 46 density gradient, 16,35 size exclusion chromatography, 33 and filtration 50,51 can be used for removing the excess dye from fluorescently labeled EV samples. However, the washing steps are time-consuming and expensive and can cause sample loss and aggregation of EVs.…”

Shape Deformation in Ion Beam Irradiated Colloidal Monolayers: An AFM Investigation

“…Interfacial self-assembly has been used for the fabrication of colloidal monolayers due to its effectiveness and versatility for the assembly of very diverse materials and has been widely investigated theoretically [1,3,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. In particular, air/water interface self-assembly based on surface confinement and water discharge has been adopted [45].…”

Self-Assembling Behavior of Smart Nanocomposite System: Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Confined by Stretched Porous Polyethylene Film

“…In general, while designing new self-assembling structures, porous materials can be used as a smart media which allows to stabilize mechanically the desired properties [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. Specifically, porous macromolecular materials have attracted durable attention of the scientific community [ 58 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ] due to their functionality and possibility of mechanical control.…”