Slow reorganization of small phosphatidylcholine vesicles upon adsorption of amphiphilic polymers

Static or dynamic light scattering measurements were performed in parallel, on dilute mixtures of DPPC/DPPA vesicles (typical radius 60 nm) and hydrophobically modified polymers. This technique gave evidence of the slow kinetics involved in both the reorganization of an adsorbed polymer layer and the membrane breakage. Hours, or sometimes days, were required in order to follow the variation of both the hydrodynamic radius and the scattering intensity at intermediate stages. Images of the intermediate species were collected using freeze-fracture electron microscopy (FFEM). Comparison of different polymers (of varying molecular weight or structure) revealed the prime importance of hydrophobicity on the disruption of membranes. Although the presence of a few percent of pendant alkyl chains along the polymer backbone induced adsorption to membranes, only the association with the more hydrophobic ones (> 25 mol% of pendant octyl groups) resulted in small mixed objects of micellar size (radius about 10 nm). The drop of the mean radius of intermediate structures formed upon the vesicle breakage was also sensitive to temperature. A tentative mechanism was proposed on the basis of kinetics and FFEM studies. (C) 2001 Academic Press.