Regulation of the intermittent release of giant unilamellar vesicles under osmotic pressure

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zhou ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
Bei-Bei Ma ◽  
Zhong-Ying Jiang ◽  
Tao Zhu

Abstract Osmotic pressure can break the fluid balance between intracellular and extracellular solutions. In hypo-osmotic solution, water molecules, which transfer into the cell and burst, are driven by the concentrations difference of solute across the semi-permeable membrane. The complicated dynamic processes of the intermittent burst have been previously observed. However, the underlying physical mechanism has yet to be thoroughly explored and analyzed. Here, the intermittent release of inclusion in giant unilamellar vesicles was investigated quantitatively, applying the combination of experimental and theoretical methods in the hypo-osmotic medium. Experimentally, we adopted highly sensitive EMCCD to acquire intermittent dynamic images. Notably, the component of the vesicle phospholipids affected the stretch velocity, and the prepared solution of the vesicle adjusted the release time. Theoretically, we chose equations numerical simulations to quantify the dynamic process in phases and explored the influence of physical parameters such as bilayer permeability and solution viscosity on the process. It was concluded that the time taken to achieve the balance of giant unilamellar vesicles was highly dependent on the structure of the lipid molecular. The pore lifetime was strongly related with the internal solution environment of giant unilamellar vesicles. The vesicle prepared in viscous solution accessed visualized long-lived pore. Furthermore, the line tension was measured quantitatively by the release velocity of inclusion, which was in the same order of magnitude as the theoretical simulation. In all, the experimental values well matched the theoretical values. Our investigation clarified the physical regulatory mechanism of intermittent pore formation and inclusion release, which had an important reference for the development of novel technologies such as gene therapy based on transmembrane transport as well as controlled drug delivery based on liposomes.

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 634
Author(s):  
Ylenia Miele ◽  
Gábor Holló ◽  
István Lagzi ◽  
Federico Rossi

The budding and division of artificial cells engineered from vesicles and droplets have gained much attention in the past few decades due to an increased interest in designing stimuli-responsive synthetic systems. Proper control of the division process is one of the main challenges in the field of synthetic biology and, especially in the context of the origin of life studies, it would be helpful to look for the simplest chemical and physical processes likely at play in prebiotic conditions. Here we show that pH-sensitive giant unilamellar vesicles composed of mixed phospholipid/fatty acid membranes undergo a budding process, internally fuelled by the urea–urease enzymatic reaction, only for a given range of the membrane composition. A gentle interplay between the effects of the membrane composition on the elasticity and the preferred area difference of the bilayer is responsible for the existence of a narrow range of membrane composition yielding a high probability for budding of the vesicles.


Langmuir ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 1082-1088
Author(s):  
Chiho Kataoka-Hamai ◽  
Kohsaku Kawakami

Soft Matter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Bao ◽  
Daniel A. Paterson ◽  
Sally A. Peyman ◽  
J. Cliff Jones ◽  
Jonathan A. T. Sandoe ◽  
...  

We describe a modified microfluidic method for making Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) via water/octanol-lipid/water double emulsion droplets and encapsulation of nematic lyotropic liquid crystals (LNLCs).


2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 147a
Author(s):  
Thais A. Enoki ◽  
Haden L. Scott ◽  
Gerald W. Feigenson ◽  
Frederick A. Heberle

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