Modification of liposomes with proteins by dansyl-labeled heterobifunctional crosslinker

The introduction of a fluorescent chromaphore into bifunctional crosslinkers results in a molecule with normal crosslinker properties and a fluorescent group for straightforward quantification. This work describes the synthesis of the dansyl-labeled heterobifunctional crosslinker N-succinimidyl ε-N-dansyl α-N-(acetylthio)acetyllysine (dansyl-ATA-lysine-NHS) containing reactive N-hydroxysuccinimidyl (NHS) ester and sulfhydryl groups. The application of this crosslinker to conjugation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein to the surface of a liposome containing maleimide functions is also demonstrated. BSA was modified with the dansyl-labeled crosslinker and subsequently conjugated to liposomes containing reactive phospholipid derivative N-[4-(p-maleimidophenyl)butyryl]phosphatidylethanolamine and the degree of modification and conjugation were quantitatively determined by measuring the fluorescence emission of the dansyl group. The reliability of the fluorescence quantification was confirmed by a micro bio-barcode assay protein assay.