Incorporation of antimicrobial peptides in nanostructured lipid membrane mimetic bilayer cubosomes

Abstract

The inverse bicontinuous lipidic cubic phase offers a simple and robust membrane mimetic with the ability to encapsulate peptides, potentially increasing bioavailability, while also offering a platform from which functionalized, targeted nanoparticles can be developed. Herein we have investigated the use of a number of cubic phase nanoparticle systems with encapsulated antimicrobial peptides gramicidin A’, melittin, and alamethicin. The optimal peptide loading ranges, over which cubic symmetry was retained, were determined using small angle X-ray scattering. A large variation in peptide loading capability of different cubosome formulations was confirmed using circular dichroism. Observations..