Development of Novel Nanopipette with a Lipid Nanotube as Nanochannel

Abstract

Single cell analysis gets a lot of attentions to reveal the unknown biological aspects of individual cells. To analyze the properties of a single cell, local environmental control is desired. We propose a novel nanopipette where a lipid nanotube (LNT) as a nanochannel is attached to apply the minimal changes to the environment. LNTs have hollow cylindrical nanostructures consisting of lipid bilayer membranes and their outer and inner surfaces are hydrophilic. Fabrication process of the LNT nanopipette includes two main parts; picking up an LNT and sealing the interspace between it and the glass micropipette. The fluorescent solution was spouted from the fabricated LNT nanopipette. The nanopipette is effective to local environmental control as an end-effecter for biological applications.