Mechanosensitive liposomes as artificial chaperones for shear-driven acceleration of enzyme-catalyzed reaction

Mechanosensitive liposomes were prepared and applied to continuously accelerate the glucose oxidase (GO) reaction in shear flow. The liposome membrane was composed of a ternary lipid mixture containing 20 mol % negatively charged lipid and 30 mol % cholesterol. The liposomes encapsulating GO and catalase were passed through microtubes with inner diameter of 190 or 380 μm at 25 °C to induce the catalytic oxidation of 10 mM glucose with simultaneous decomposition of H2O2 produced. The liposomal GO showed significantly low reactivity in the static liquid system because of the permeation resistance of lipid membranes to glucose. On the other hand, the enzyme activity of liposomal GO observed at the average shear rate of 7.8 × 10(3) s(-1) was significantly larger than its intrinsic activity free of mass transfer effect in the static liquid system. The structure of liposomes was highly shear-sensitive as elucidated on the basis of shear rate-dependent physical stability of liposomes and membrane permeability to 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein as well as to GO. Thus, the above shear-driven acceleration of GO reaction was indicated to be caused by the free GO molecules released from the structurally altered liposomes at high shear rates. Moreover, the shear-induced denaturation of free GO was completely depressed by the interaction with the sheared liposomes with the chaperone-like function. The shear-sensitive liposomal GO system can be a unique catalyst that continuously accelerates and also decelerates the oxidation reaction depending on the applied shear rate.