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Point‐to‐Plane Nonhomogeneous Electric‐Field‐Induced Simultaneous Formation of Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) and Lipid Tubes
Author(s) -
Zhu Chuntao,
Zhang Ying,
Wang Yinan,
Li Qingchuan,
Mu Wei,
Han Xiaojun
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201504389
Subject(s) - vesicle , electric field , plane (geometry) , biophysics , field (mathematics) , lipid vesicle , materials science , chemical physics , nanotechnology , chemistry , mechanics , membrane , physics , biology , geometry , mathematics , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics
It is well‐known that homogeneous electric fields can be used to generate giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). Herein we report an interesting phenomenon of formation of GUVs and lipid tubes simultaneously using a nonhomogeneous electric field generated by point‐to‐plane electrodes. The underlying mechanism was analyzed using finite element analysis. The two forces play main roles, that is, the pulling force ( F ) to drag GUVs into lipid tubes induced by fluid flow, and the critical force ( Fc ) to prevent GUVs from deforming into lipid tubes induced by electric fields. In the center area underneath the needle electrode, the GUVs were found because F is less than Fc in that region, whereas in the edge area the lipid tubes were obtained because F is larger than Fc . The diffusion coefficient of lipid in the tubes was found to be 4.45 μm 2 s −1 using a fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) technique. The method demonstrated here is superior to conventional GUV or lipid tube fabrication methods, and has great potential in cell mimic or hollow material fabrication using GUVs and tubes as templates.