AVS 46th International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Group Tuesday Sessions
       Session BI-TuP

Paper BI-TuP18
Functionalized Glycolipids for Model Biomembrane

Tuesday, October 26, 1999, 5:30 pm, Room 4C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: S. Schiller, Max-Planck-Institut for Polymer Research, Germany
Authors: S. Schiller, Max-Planck-Institut for Polymer Research, Germany
H. Kunz, University of Mainz, Germany
W. Knoll, Max-Planck-Institut for Polymer Research, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
Fluid Model Biomembranes are important tools for general investigations of membrane properties and have many potential applications in the pharmaceutical industry e.g. for analyte screening using competitive immuno assays with membrane-integral receptors. The most advanced of these systems are tethered lipid bilayer membranes (tBLMs) on gold or silicon. tBLMs developed so far often show poor electrical properties compared to BLMs. Some systems insufficiently decouple the lipid bilayer from the surface and do not provide optimal tether properties in terms of hydrophilicity of the submembrane and stable membrane support, which is necessary for the incorporation of membrane proteins. An alternative route uses functionalized carbohydates as tether molecules to meet some of these requirements. Several carbohydrate systems are already under investigation, polysaccharides, especially dextran, cellulose and agar are used to provide a hydrophilic, soft and gel like support. Regio- and stereospecific manipulations in small and defined areas are difficult in such large polymer systems. We therefore focus on small oligosaccharides and their functionalized derivatives and the synthesis of a complex multicomponent system with specific lateral spacer molecules and several glycolipid tether sytems. Important components are glycolipids functionalized with anchor groups for surface attachment and spacer saccharides. The possibility to introduce side functionalities to multifunctional saccharides opens a wide range of variations, for example the functionlization with fluorescent probes at different positions along the tether chain or variation of physical properties by varying side groups. The approach we present here consists of the use of several saccharides and different lipids to learn more about the fundamental properties of these systems. Further research will be the synthesis of the complex system described above and the challenging study of complex membrane processes.