The Secret of the Invisible Protective Film, Lipid Coating

 

This time, I will briefly introduce our company and introduce the contents related to lipid coating. Our company, LUCA AICell, is a lipid-specialized biotech company that makes and spreads liposomes with lipids and breaks the cell membranes of the liposomes that are made. The founder of the company, Professor Nam-Joon Cho, a professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, has been conducting this research for a long time, and as a result, he founded the company.

 

Lipid Coating

Most of the work done with lipids in the pharmaceutical and bio industries is DDS (Drug Delivery System). As a result, liposomes and LNPs are widely used as drug delivery vehicles not only in the pharmaceutical and bio industries but also in cosmetics and health functional foods. However, lipids do not just pile up in a round shape but also settle on a flat surface and coat that surface. Lipids are made up of a hydrophilic head and a hydrophobic tail, and for this reason, in water, the tails gather, and the heads gather, and a sphere shape (liposome) is naturally formed with the hydrophilic head facing toward the water.

This structure, where the tails gather and the heads face outward, is called a lipid bilayer. What would happen if this structure did not gather in a round shape and sank to the bottom? Professor Nam-Joon Cho has been researching this topic for a long time and discovered that lipid bilayers do not only have a spherical shape but also sink to the surface and coat the surface. Just as liposomes are nano-sized particles (10-6 mm), lipid bilayers can thinly coat surfaces with a thickness of 4 to 6 nm. Since they are invisible to the eye, it is not easy to take pictures or prove them. The method used in the professor's research is QCMD (Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation). This balance is used to confirm the lipid bilayer coated on the surface.

The above picture is a graph of the principle of QCMD and a link explaining it.

In simple terms, you can understand it as a graph showing that the surface is covered in nano-size.

 

It is known that the ball-shaped lipid carries the active ingredient inside (DDS, drug delivery system). Since it is a coating in the nano size that is invisible to the eye, it can be used in minute places that are invisible to the eye.

Role of Lipid Coating

1. Did you know that vials used mainly in bio labs or pharmaceutical manufacturing sites are already coated? This is because expensive drugs that should do their job stick to the glass bottle and do not show their full effect when used. Currently, silicone oil or bovine serum albumin (BSA) are mainly used, but silicone oil can cause inflammation in the human body, and bovine serum albumin is an animal-derived raw material, so its use is gradually decreasing. LUCA AICell proposes lipid coating as a safe and eco-friendly nano-coating agent that strengthens the coating power more than existing raw materials.

2. Since lipids are a safe substance for the human body, it can be safely used in various places on our body that require a protective layer. LUCA AICell has developed and is currently selling a spray that is sprayed on the nasal mucosa based on this aspect. Most viral infections and allergens enter through the nasal mucosa, and since the nasal mucosa does not have a keratin layer, it immediately accepts these harmful substances and is vulnerable to colds and allergic reactions. We have developed and are currently selling a spray that coats the nasal mucosa with lipid coating technology to prevent viruses and allergens from sticking to it. There are many other lipid coating technologies that can be applied to the human body. LUCA AICell is currently researching to develop a protective film that protects every corner of the human body, including teeth, oral mucosa, eyes, and skin.

 

Effects of Lipid Coating

We tested whether lipid coating really blocks pollutants using an artificial nasal mucosa model. First, we prepare two sets of mucosa models. We spray our lipid solution on the A mucosa model and spray water on the B mucosa model. Then, after 2 hours, 5 hours, 8 hours, and 24 hours, fluorescent substances (replacing contaminants) were sprayed one by one. Then, they were washed once with water. At that time, the A mucosal model with lipid coating did not absorb any fluorescent substances, and the B mucosal model could be confirmed to have penetrated the fluorescent substances.

The advantage of lipid coating is that, above all, it can be nanocoated with a substance that is safe for the human body. Lipid is a component that makes cell membranes, so it is safe for the human body and can be coated quickly. Although lipid coating is not well known yet, LUCA AICell is trying to develop more useful and groundbreaking products with this technology. In particular, ’LUCA V-Defense Nasal Spray’, a product that forms a physical protective film on the nasal mucosa using lipid coating technology, is currently being sold on Amazon in the US. It is a product that safely protects the mucosa from viruses and allergens that enter through the nose and is attracting attention as a new solution for everyday respiratory defense.

LUCA V-Defense Nasal Spray View Amazon Product

LUCA AICell will continue to strive to protect the health of more people through its ‘invisible protective film’ technology.