Lysozyme binding onto cat-anionic vesicles

Mixing aqueous sodium dodecylsulfate with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide solutions in mole ratios close to (1.7/1.0) allows the formation of cat-anionic vesicles with an excess of negative charges on the outer surface. The vesicular dispersions are mixed with lysozyme, and interact electrostatically with the positive charges on the protein, forming lipo-plexes. Dielectric relaxation, zeta-potential, and light scattering indicate the occurrence of interactions between vesicles and the protein. According to CD, the vesicle-adsorbed protein retains its native conformation. Binding and surface saturation, inferred by dielectric relaxation and zeta-potential, fulfil a charge neutralisation stoichiometry. Adsorbed lysozyme promotes the vesicle clustering and is concomitant with the lipo-plexes flocculation. Above the charge neutralisation threshold, lysozyme in excess remains dispersed in molecular form. Attempts were made to determine in what conditions protein release from the vesicles occurs. Accordingly, the full neutralisation of sodium dodecylsulfate in excess by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide ensures the lipo-plexes break-up, the precipitation of the mixed surfactants and the protein release in native form.     

DNA and surfactants in bulk and at interfaces

Recent investigations of the DNA interactions with cationic surfactants and catanionic mixtures are reviewed. Several techniques have been used such as fluorescence microscopy, dynamic light scattering, electron microscopy, and Monte Carlo simulations.

The conformational behaviour of large DNA molecules in the presence of cationic surfactant was followed by fluorescence microscopy and also by dynamic light scattering. These techniques were in good agreement and it was possible to observe a discrete transition from extended coils to collapsed globules and their coexistence for intermediate amphiphile concentrations. The dependence on the surfactant alkyl chain was also monitored by fluorescence microscopy and, as expected, lower concentrations of the more hydrophobic surfactant were required to induce DNA compaction, although an excess of positive charges was still required.

Monte Carlo simulations on the compaction of a medium size polyanion with shorter polycations were performed. The polyanion chain suffers a sudden collapse as a function of the concentration of condensing agent, and of the number of charges on the polycation molecules. Further increase in the concentration increases the degree of compaction. The compaction was found to be associated with the polycations promoting bridging between different sites of the polyanion. When the total charge of the polycations was lower than that of the polyanion, a significant translational motion of the compacting agent along the polyanion was observed, producing only a small-degree of intrachain segregation, which can explain the excess of positive charges necessary to compact DNA.

Dissociation of the DNA–cationic surfactant complexes and a concomitant release of DNA was achieved by addition of anionic surfactants. The unfolding of DNA molecules, previously compacted with cationic surfactant, was shown to be strongly dependent on the anionic surfactant chain length; lower amounts of a longer chain surfactant were needed to release DNA into solution. On the other hand, no dependence on the hydrophobicity of the compacting agent was observed. The structures of the aggregates formed by the two surfactants, after the interaction with DNA, were imaged by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy. It is possible to predict the structure of the aggregates formed by the surfactants, like vesicles, from the phase behaviour of the mixed surfactant systems.

Studies on the interactions between DNA and catanionic mixtures were also performed. It was observed that DNA does not interact with negatively charged vesicles, even though they carry positive amphiphiles; however, in the presence of positively charged vesicles, DNA molecules compact and adsorb on their surface.

Finally Monte Carlo simulations were performed on the adsorption of a polyelectrolyte on catanionic surfaces. It was observed that the mobile charges in the surface react to the presence of the polyelectrolyte enabling a strong degree of adsorption even though the membrane was globally neutral. Our observations indicate that the adsorption behaviour of the polyelectrolyte is influenced by the response given by the membrane to its presence and that the number of adsorbed beads increases drastically with the increase of flexibility of the polymer. Calculations involving polymers with three different intrinsic stiffnesses showed that the variation is non-monotonic. It was observed also that a smaller polyanion typically adsorbs more completely than the larger one, which indicates that the polarisation of the membrane becomes less facilitated as the degree of disruption increases.     

Vesicles of a new salt-free cat-anionic fluoro/hydrocarbon surfactant system

Weakly basic tetradecyldimethylaminoxide (C14DMAO) molecules can be protonated to form a cationic surfactant, C14DMAOH+, by an acidic fluorocarbon surfactant, an 8-2-fluorotelomer unsaturated acid (C7F15CF==CHCOOH), to form a salt-free cationic and anionic (cat-anionic) fluoro/hydrocarbon surfactant system in aqueous solution. The high Krafft point of C7F15CF==CHCOOH was largely reduced as a result of being mixed with a C14DMAO micelle solution. A study of the phase behavior of the new salt-free cat-anionic fluoro/hydrocarbon surfactant system clearly indicates the existence of a birefringent Lalpha-phase region at (25.0+/-0.1) degrees C. The birefringent Lalpha phase consists of vesicles, which include uni- and multilamellar vesicles with one to dozens of shells, and oligovesicular vesicles, as demonstrated by freeze-fracture and cryo-transmission electron microscopy (FF- and cryo-TEM) images. The size distribution and structural transitions in the salt-free cat-anionic fluoro/hydrocarbon surfactant system were studied by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and 1H and 19F NMR spectroscopy. The formation of a salt-free cat-anionic vesicle phase could be induced by the strong electrostatic interaction between the cationic hydrocarbon C14DMAOH+ and the anionic fluorocarbon C7F15CF==CHCOO-, which provided evidence that the electrostatic interaction between the cationic and anionic surfactants is larger than the nonsynergistic interaction between the stiff fluorocarbon and the soft hydrocarbon chains of the surfactants.     

囊泡型荧光纳米界面的构建及其对CD44蛋白的比例型传感

本文设计合成了两亲性Eu(Ⅲ)配合物(Eu L^3+)、两亲性香豆素衍生物(CA)以及荧光素修饰的透明质酸(HA-FA).Eu L^3+和CA可在水中共组装形成带正电荷的囊泡型荧光纳米界面(Eu L^3+/CA).HA-FA可通过静电引力络合在Eu L^3+/CA表面,促使CA与FA之间发生有效的荧光共振能量转移,体系的荧光发射以荧光素的绿色荧光为主.当肿瘤细胞标识物CD44蛋白与络合在囊泡表面上的透明质酸发生特异相互作用后,降低了CA与FA之间的能量转移效率,体系的荧光发射从绿色转变为蓝色.据此,实现了对CD44的高灵敏检测(DL=1.79×10^-7g/m L),而所测试的氨基酸、蛋白质等生物分子几乎不对荧光纳米界面的荧光性质产生影响.基于此,我们成功地将Eu L^3+/CA/HA-FA用于人乳腺癌细胞MCF-7和MDA-MB-231悬浮液中CD44蛋白的高效检测,该工作为构建新型CD44蛋白荧光探针提供了思路,为癌症早期诊断和治疗奠定了基础.     

Protein binding onto surfactant-based synthetic vesicles

Synthetic vesicles were prepared by mixing anionic and cationic surfactants, aqueous sodium dodecylsulfate with didodecyltrimethylammonium or cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The overall surfactant content and the (anionic/cationic) mole ratios allow one to obtain negatively charged vesicles. In the phase diagram, the vesicular region is located between a solution phase, a lamellar liquid crystalline dispersion, and a precipitate area. Characterization of the vesicles was performed by electrophoretic mobility, NMR, TEM, and DLS and we determined their uni-lamellar character, size, stability, and charge density. Negatively charged vesicular dispersions, made of sodium dodecylsulfate/didodecyltrimethylammonium bromide or sodium dodecylsulfate/cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, were mixed with lysozyme, to form lipoplexes. Depending on the protein/vesicle charge ratio, binding, surface saturation, and lipoplexes flocculation, or precipitation, occurs. The free protein in excess remains in solution, after binding saturation. The systems were investigated by thermodynamic (surface tension and solution calorimetry), DLS, CD, TEM, 1H NMR, transport properties, electrophoretic mobility, and dielectric relaxation. The latter two methods give information on the vesicle charge neutralization by adsorbed protein. Binding is concomitant to modifications in the double layer thickness of vesicles and in the surface charge density of the resulting lipoplexes. This is also confirmed by developing the electrophoretic mobility results in terms of a Langmuir-like adsorption isotherm. Charges in excess with respect to the amount required to neutralize the vesicle surface promote lipoplexes clustering and/or flocculation. Protein-vesicle interactions were observed by DLS, indicating changes in particle size (and in their distribution functions) upon addition of LYSO. According to CD, the bound protein retains its native conformation, at least in the SDS/CTAB vesicular system. In fact, changes in the alpha-helix and beta-sheet conformations are moderate, if any. Calorimetric methods indicate that the maximum heat effect for LYSO binding occurs at charge neutralization. They also indicate that enthalpic are by far the dominant contributions to the system stability. Accordingly, energy effects associated with charge neutralization and double-layer contributions are much higher than counterion exchange and dehydration terms.     

Vesicular release dynamics are altered by the interaction between the chemical cargo and vesicle membrane lipids

The release of the cargo from soft vesicles, an essential process for chemical delivery, is mediated by multiple factors. Among them, the regulation by the interaction between the chemical cargo species and the vesicular membrane, widely existing in all vesicles, has not been investigated to date. Yet, these interactions hold the potential to complicate the release process. We used liposomes loaded with different monoamines, dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT), to simulate vesicular release and to monitor the dynamics of chemical release from isolated vesicles during vesicle impact electrochemical cytometry (VIEC). The release of DA from liposomes presents a longer release time compared to 5-HT. Modelling the release time showed that DA filled vesicles had a higher percentage of events where the time for the peak fall was better fit to a double exponential (DblExp) decay function, suggesting multiple kinetic steps in the release. By fitting to a desorption–release model, where the transmitters adsorbed to the vesicle membrane, the dissociation rates of DA and 5-HT from the liposome membrane were estimated. DA has a lower desorption rate constant, which leads to slower DA release than that observed for 5-HT, whereas there is little difference in pore size. The alteration of vesicular release dynamics due to the interaction between the chemical cargo and vesicle membrane lipids provides an important mechanism to regulate vesicular release in chemical and physiological processes. It is highly possible that this introduces a fundamental chemical regulation difference between transmitters during exocytosis.

The release of the cargo from soft vesicles, an essential process for chemical delivery, is mediated by multiple factors.     

Glucose encapsulation in catanionic vesicles and kinetic study of the entrapment/release processes in the sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate/cetyltrimethylammonium tosylate/water system

The sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS)/cetyltrimethyl-ammonium tosylate (CTAT)/water ternary system has previously been shown to give rise to the formation of vesicles for well-defined compositions requiring an excess of one of the surfactants over the other. Two types of vesicular systems can thus be obtained (named V(+) and V(-), depending on the nature of the excess surfactant, i.e., CTAT or SDBS, respectively). In addition, the pure ion-pair amphiphile (IPA) can be obtained after removing the counterions. These different systems (V(+), V(-), and IPA) were investigated in regards to their ability to susbtantially retain a hydrophilic probe such as glucose. The influence of the initial glucose and surfactant concentrations was studied, and dialysis experiments were conducted with a view to determine the kinetics of glucose entrapment and release by the vesicles and, thus, to assess the possibility of a long-term encapsulation. The results indicate that all the vesicular systems studied here are characterized by quite a high permeability of the amphiphilic bilayer. However, SDBS-rich (V(-)) and IPA vesicles proved to be less permeable than CTAT-rich (V(+)) vesicles.     

Molecular dynamics study of catanionic bilayers composed of ion pair amphiphile with double-tailed cationic surfactant

The physical stability of catanionic vesicles is important for the development of novel drug or DNA carriers. For investigating the mechanism by which catanionic vesicles are stabilized, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is an attractive approach that provides microscopic structural information on the vesicular bilayer. In this study, MD simulation was applied to investigate the bilayer properties of catanionic vesicles composed of an ion pair amphiphile (IPA), hexadecyltrimethylammonium-dodecylsulfate (HTMA-DS), and a double-tailed cationic surfactant, ditetradecyldimethylammonium chloride (DTDAC). Structural information regarding membrane elasticity and the organization and conformation of surfactant molecules was obtained based on the resulting trajectory. Simulation results showed that a proper amount of DTDAC could be used to complement the asymmetric structure between HTMA and DS, resulting in an ordered hydrocarbon chain packing within the rigid membrane observed in the mixed HTMA-DS/DTDAC system. The coexistence of gel and fluid phases was also observed in the presence of excess DTDAC. MD simulation results agreed well with results obtained from experimental studies examining mixed HTMA-DS/DTDAB vesicles.     

Monitoring of Intracellular Vesicles in Cultured Neurons at Different Growth Stages Using Intracellular Vesicle Electrochemical Cytometry

The exploration of intracellular vesicles plays crucial roles for neuronal activity assessment. Neurons at different growth stages may possess distinct neuronal activity, including vesicular content and release kinetics. Here, we monitored the vesicular content and its release kinetics in neurons at different growth stages by intracellular vesicle electrochemical cytometry. We found that the neurotransmitters content of vesicles changed to be increased and the vesicle release process became longer as the neurons grew. Further, we demonstrated that the vesicular adsorption and rupture modes changed from the dominant simple event to simple and complex event coexisting mode. We speculate that this work provides a new strategy for the neuronal activity assessment or real- time cell activity analysis.     

共轭亚油酸与海藻酸钠囊泡化自组装纳米容器及其药物缓释性能

脂肪酸囊泡(FAV)是一类重要的纳米容器,然而其形成pH范围较窄且偏碱性环境,限制了其应用。 本文将共轭亚油酸(CLA)与海藻酸钠(SA)在近中性环境下共同自组装囊泡化纳米容器并提高其膜稳定性。动态激光光散射(DLS)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)结果表明,当SA质量分数为25%~50%时复合体系可在近中性条件下自组装形成50~250 nm尺寸的囊泡化纳米容器,且pH=7.4时随着质量分数增加囊泡化纳米容器直径增大。 根据SA和CLA在中性环境的物种存在形式推测,二者通过氢键作用驱动形成囊泡化纳米容器。 体外模拟释放实验表明,囊泡化纳米容器具有较高包覆率和较优缓释效果,有望应用于药物传输领域。     

DNA‐Surfactant Interactions. Compaction,Condensation, Decompaction and Phase Separation

Recent investigations of the interaction between DNA and alkyltrimethylammonium bromides of various chain lengths are reviewed. Several techniques have been used such as phase map determinations, fluorescence microscopy, and electron microscopy. Dissociation of the DNA‐surfactant complexes, by the addition of anionic surfactant, has received special attention. Precipitation maps for DNA‐cationic surfactant systems were evaluated by turbidimetry for different salt concentrations, temperatures and surfactant chain lengths. Single‐stranded DNA molecules precipitate at lower surfactant concentrations than double‐helix ones. It was also observed that these systems precipitate for very low concentrations of both DNA and surfactant, and that the extension of the two‐phase region increases for longer chain surfactants; these observations correlate well with fluorescence microscopy results, monitoring the system at a single molecule level. Dissociation of the DNA‐cationic surfactant complexes and a concomitant release of DNA was achieved by addition of anionic surfactants. The unfolding of DNA molecules, previously compacted with cationic surfactant, was shown to be strongly dependent on the anionic surfactant chain length; lower amounts of a longer chain surfactant were needed to release DNA into solution. On the other hand, no dependence on the hydrophobicity of the compacting agent was observed. The structures of the aggregates formed by the two surfactants, after the interaction with DNA, were imaged by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy. It is possible to predict the structure of the aggregates formed by the surfactants, like vesicles, from the phase behaviour of the mixed surfactant systems. The compaction of a medium size polyanion with shorter polycations was furthermore studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The polyanion chain suffers a sudden collapse as a function of the condensing agent concentration and of the number of charges on the molecules. Further increase of the concentration gives an increase of the degree of compaction. The compaction was found to be associated with the polycations promoting bridging between different sites of the polyanion. When the total charge of the polycations was lower than that of the polyanion, a significant translational motion of the compacting agent along the polyanion was observed, producing only a small‐degree of intrachain segregation. However, complete charge neutralization was not a prerequisite to achieve compacted forms.     

Surface complexation of DNA with a cationic surfactant

We have studied the surface complexation of DNA with a cationic surfactant (DTAB) using a combination of methods: dynamic surface tension, ellipsometry and Brewster angle microscopy. Below the surfactant critical aggregation concentration (cac), complexation occurs only at the surface, and the results are consistent with neutralization of the surfactant charges by the free polymer ions. Above the cac, surfactant starts to bind cooperatively to DNA in the bulk, and adsorption of the preformed hydrophobic surfactant DNA aggregate is now possible, leading to thick surface layers. At still higher concentrations of surfactant (still below saturation of binding in the bulk), there is decrease in adsorption due to competition with bulk aggregates. Finally, as surfactant concentration is increased still further, bulk aggregates become less soluble and large amounts are adsorbed, forming a surface layer, which is solid-like and brittle.     

Reactive block copolymer vesicles with an epoxy wall

Recently, block copolymer vesicles have attracted considerable attention because of their properties in encapsulation and release. To explore their applications in biorelated fields, functionalization of the polymer vesicle is necessary. Herein, a reactive unilamellar vesicle is reported by self-assembly of poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(glycidyl methacrylate) copolymer (PEO-b-PGMA) in solution. When water was added into the PEO-b-PGMA solution in THF, unilamellar vesicles were produced. If hydrophobic primary amine additives, such as hexamethylenediamine (HDA) and dodecylamine (DA), were introduced during block copolymer assembling, the vesicular morphology remained unchanged; instead, the amines reacted with the epoxys and the vesicles were fixed by cross-linking. Furthermore, when 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane (APS) was applied, the organic/inorganic hybrid vesicles were obtained, which were stable against the solvent change. Therefore, this research not only supplies a new way to fix the vesicular morphology but also a reactive vesicle scaffold for introducing functional species.     

Amphiphilic cyclodextrin carriers embedding porphyrins: charge and size modulation of colloidal stability in heterotopic aggregates

The interaction between the anionic 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)-21H,23H-porphyrin (TPPS) and cationic vesicles formed by heptakis(2-omega-amino-O-oligo(ethylene oxide)-6-hexylthio)-beta-cyclodextrin (SC6CDNH2) has been investigated in detail through a combination of elastic light scattering (ELS), quasi-elastic light scattering (QELS), zeta potential measurements, and time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy. ELS experiments provided the first structural characterization of these cationic vesicles both in the absence and in the presence of TPPS porphyrin, modeling the system as a spherical particle described by a single thin shell form factor. The structure of mixed hetero-aggregates is modulated by charge and size of the two components as function of different porphyrin/cyclodextrin (CD) molar ratios. At the limiting molar ratio studied, the absolute value of zeta potential (/zeta/ = 12.5 mV) seems to be a reference value for the formation of stable colloidal CD vesicular aggregates at thermodynamic equilibrium. New insights on the structure of these heterotopic colloids have been obtained by analysis of rotational correlation times at different molar ratios exploiting time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy experiments. At high porphyrin loads, the anisotropy decays behave as monoexponentials and the rotational correlation times (1-2 ns) together with the r(0) values close to zero suggest the presence of small amounts of TPPS embedded in a hydrophobic environment either in monomeric or in aggregated form. At the lower porphyrin/CD molar ratios, the anisotropy decays exhibit a double-exponential behavior showing a predominant component with a slow rotational correlation time (20-25 ns) and limiting anisotropy values of approximately 0.15. This component has been assigned to molecules that are more stabilized onto the CD vesicles, that is, porphyrins embedded into the oligo-ethylene "wall" of the CD vesicles. Scanning near-field optical microscopy of the samples evaporated on glass surfaces gave further insights on the morphology and optical properties of these systems, confirming the embedding of TPPS on the vesicles and evidencing the role of the solvent.     

Detecting Counterion Dynamics in DNA–Protein Association

Due to a high density of negative charges on its surface, DNA condenses cations as counterions, forming the so-called “ion atmosphere”. Although the release of counterions upon DNA–protein association has been postulated to have a major contribution to the binding thermodynamics, this release remains to be confirmed through a direct observation of the ions. Herein, we report the characterization of the ion atmosphere around DNA using NMR spectroscopy and directly detect the release of counterions upon DNA–protein association. NMR-based diffusion data reveal the highly dynamic nature of counterions within the ion atmosphere around DNA. Counterion release is observed as an increase in the apparent ionic diffusion coefficient, which directly provides the number of counterions released upon DNA–protein association.     

Vesicular catalysis of an S(N)2 reaction: toward understanding the influence of glycolipids on reactions proceeding at the interface of biological membranes

The kinetics of the S(N)2 reaction of a series of aromatic alkylsulfonates with water and bromide ions in membrane mimetic media have been investigated. These media include vesicles formed from only synthetic amphiphiles, vesicles composed only of phospholipids and mixtures of these components. Special focus is placed on the influence of the addition of n-dodecyl-beta-glucoside as a mimic for glycolipids. The kinetic data have been analyzed by using the pseudophase model for bimolecular reactions. Contrary to previous results on a base-catalyzed E2 reaction (Org. Biomol. Chem. 2004, 2, 1789-1799), the presence of n-dodecyl-beta-glucoside at the vesicular surface does not lead to large rate accelerations for the S(N)2 reaction. In fact, when present at 50 mol % (i.e., the additive covers 34% of the vesicular surface) these glycolipid mimics appear not to affect the bimolecular rate constants, but they only decrease the local water concentration by about 40%. The reactivity of water at the surface of vesicles that are formed from cationic amphiphiles appears to be increased about 10-fold relative to the reactivity of water in the bulk liquid, whereas in zwitterionic vesicles the reactivity is comparable to that in bulk water. The obtained rate constants are also compared to micellar rate constants.     

Integrated nanoreactor systems: triggering the release and mixing of compounds inside single vesicles

We present a method that allows the on-demand release and mixing of zepto- to femtoliter volumes of solutions in the interior of vesicular nanoreactors. The reactors comprise a nested system of lipid vesicles, part of which release their cargo in the interior of the others during a thermotropic phase transition. The performance of individual reactors immobilized on glass is characterized using confocal microscopy and a fluorescent dye that reports dilution during the release. The results confirm the predicted temperature-induced response and reveal a release transition width of 3 degrees C with a half time of approximately 1 min.     

Coating of vesicles with hydrophilic reactive polymers

Vesicles bearing either cationic (amino) groups or zwitterionic (amino acid) groups on the surface were coated with a reactive multivalent hydrophilic N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide polymer (PHPMA) and its positively charged analogue (3 mol % quaternary ammonium groups), both having reactive thiazolidine-2-thione (TT) groups randomly distributed along the polymer chain. The vesicles were dispersed in water at a concentration of 1 mg/mL. The effect of surface charges of model vesicles on the surface coating efficiency was evaluated. The changes in the weight-average molecular weight, in the hydrodynamic size, and in the zeta-potential of model vesicles were tested using light scattering methods. The most effective coating of vesicles was observed for the zwitterionic vesicles coated with the positively charged hydrophilic PHPMA-TT copolymer at a concentration of reactive polymer cp = 2 mg/mL. The coating efficiency was more than 1 order of magnitude higher than that obtained for positively charged vesicles coated by the uncharged hydrophilic polymer at the same cp.     

Folding Up of Gold Nanoparticle Strings into Plasmonic Vesicles for Enhanced Photoacoustic Imaging

The stepwise self‐assembly of hollow plasmonic vesicles with vesicular membranes containing strings of gold nanoparticles (NPs) is reported. The formation of chain vesicles can be controlled by tuning the density of the polymer ligands on the surface of the gold NPs. The strong absorption of the chain vesicles in the near‐infrared (NIR) region leads to a much higher efficiency in photoacoustic (PA) imaging than for non‐chain vesicles. The chain vesicles were further employed for the encapsulation of drugs and the NIR light triggered release of payloads. This work not only offers a new platform for controlling the hierarchical self‐assembly of NPs, but also demonstrates that the physical properties of the materials can be tailored by controlling the spatial arrangement of NPs within assemblies to achieve a better performance in biomedical applications.     

Quantitative Measurement of Transmitters in Individual Vesicles in the Cytoplasm of Single Cells with Nanotip Electrodes

The quantification of vesicular transmitter content is important for studying the mechanisms of neurotransmission and malfunction in disease, and yet it is incredibly difficult to measure the tiny amounts of neurotransmitters in the attoliter volume of a single vesicle, especially in the cell environment. We introduce a novel method, intracellular vesicle electrochemical cytometry. A nanotip conical carbon‐fiber microelectrode was used to electrochemically measure the total content of electroactive neurotransmitters in individual nanoscale vesicles in single PC12 cells as these vesicles lysed on the electrode inside the living cell. The results demonstrate that only a fraction of the quantal neurotransmitter content is released during exocytosis. These data support the intriguing hypothesis that the vesicle does not open all the way during the normal exocytosis process, thus resulting in incomplete expulsion of the vesicular contents.