To study the interaction between the SNPs and lipid membranes, we employed confocal laser microscopy to visualise morphological changes experienced by DOPC GUVs labelled with either 0.5 mol% Rh-DOPE or 1mol% DiO after exposure to SNPs-18, SNPs-18@BSA, SNPs-30 and SNPs-30@BSA. GUVs were prepared by the electroformation method . All experiments were carried out at a SNPs concentration of 25 µg/ml. Control experiments confirmed that the morphology of the GUVs is not affected by the presence of BSA in the medium at the concentration (0.25 mg/ml) at which they are found in the SNPs-18@BSA and SNPs-30@BSA samples (Fig. ).