Stable vesicle assemblies on surfaces of hydrogel nanoparticles formed from a polysaccharide modified with lipid moieties

• We synthesize hyaluronic acids attached with methacrylates and phospholipids.
• Modified hyaluronic acids form nanohydrogels via a surfactant free route.
• Lipids attached to hyaluronic acids anchor foreign lipids for assembling peripheral vesicles.
• Nanohydrogels swell with pH variations for disassembling peripheral vesicles.

Micro- and nanoparticle-supported lipid assemblies have significant potential for being used in biology and medicine for sensing, mimicking cellular membranes, and delivering drugs or cosmetic agents. Here, we introduce a new type of nanohydrogels based on the modification of a polysaccharide with lipid moieties, followed by the formation of nanoparticles and assembling lipid bilayers on the particle surfaces. The lipophilic compound 1,2-ditetradecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DMPE) and the UV-crosslinkable methacrylic anhydride were covalently attached to hyaluronic acid (HA) and the formation of hydrogel nanoparticles via a surfactant-free inverse emulsion mechanism was demonstrated. As an anchoring group, the lipophilic DMPE moiety enables the formation of hydrogel nanoparticles with a spherical morphology in nonpolar media and allows for the stable assembly of lipid bilayers bearing amphiphiles on HA nanohydrogel surfaces. The conjugated oligoelectrolyte, 4,4′-bis[4′-(N,N-bis(6″-(N,N,N-trimethylammonium)hexyl)amino)styryl] stilbene tetraiodide (DSSN+), was incorporated into the nanohydrogel-supported lipid bilayers, resulting in the formation of stable multilamellar peripheral vesicular structures due to the similarity in chemical structure of DMPE and the assembled lipid molecules.

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