Faraday Discussions, 2013, 166, 181-194

Peptide nanofibres as molecular transporters: From self-assembly to in vivo degradation

Mariarosa Mazza, Avnish Patel, Ramon Pons, Cyrill Bussy and Kostas Kostarelos

In this report, we describe the self-assembly of PNFs by using palmitoyl-peptide molecules containing two different cationic amino acid sequences and offer a description of the nanofiber physicochemical characteristics. Overall, the self-assembled PNFs were seen to internalise within neurons and be removed or degrade in the brain. Further work is needed to determine the utility of such PNFs as molecular transporters within neuronal tissue.