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Schematic of liposomal delivery and cells which contain calcium PEBBLEs delivered by this method.
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The other commonly used method for PEBBLE delivery to cells is called liposomal delivery. This technique utilizes the natural system of some cell types to take in contents of liposomes which come into contact with their outer surface. The lipids in the micelles are very similar to the lipids in the cell walls, both having a hydrophyllic head and hydrophobic tails. This enables the two structures to merge and many things which are stuck to or contained within the liposomes end up in the cell cytoplasm. The fluorescence image shows the two colors of light from ratiometric calcium sensitive PEBBLEs. The green/yellow light from the Calcium Green dye indicates a wave of calcium sweeping across the cells, while the red light is from the Texas Red reference dye. |
