Influence of Environmental Conditions on the Fusion of Cationic Liposomes with Living Mammalian Cells.

Lipid-based nanoparticles, also called vesicles or liposomes, can be used as carriers for drugs or many types of biological macromolecules, including DNA and proteins. Efficiency and speed of cargo delivery are especially high for carrier vesicles that fuse with the cellular plasma membrane. This occurs for lipid mixture containing equal amounts of the cationic lipid DOTAP and a neutral lipid with an additional few percents of an aromatic substance.

Intramembranous processing by γ-secretase regulates reverse signaling of ephrin-B2 in migration of microglia.

The Eph-ephrin system plays pivotal roles in cell adhesion and migration. The receptor-like functions of the ephrin ligands allow the regulation of intracellular processes via reverse signaling. γ-Secretase mediated processing of ephrin-B has previously been linked to activation of Src, a kinase crucial for focal adhesion and podosome phosphorylation.