Surfactin effect on the physicochemical property of PC liposome

Surfactin is an efficient biosurfactant produced by some Bacillus subtilis strains and has some extraordinary biological activities. The surfactin effect on the physicochemical property of soy phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposome has been studied in this paper. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements showed that the hydrodynamic diameter of PC liposome decreased with the surfactin addition. In addition, the transmittance and micropolarity of PC liposomes also decreased with surfactin addition. These results were due to the microstructure change of PC liposome to PC/surfactin mixed micelles. It is interesting that the dynamic change of PC liposome to PC/surfactin mixed micelle was recorded by DLS. Freeze-fracture transmission electron microscopy (FF-TEM) images further confirmed the morphological change of PC liposome to PC/surfactin micelle with the surfactin addition. In sum, the process of PC liposome to PC/surfactin micelle is the solubilization of PC liposome and the reorganization of PC/surfactin aggregates. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.