Vesna Arrigler

Microtubes and nanotubes of a phospholipid bilayer membrane

We propose a theory describing the stable structure of a phospholipid bilayer in pure water involving a spherical mother vesicle with long thin tubular protrusion. It is considered that the phospholipid molecules are in general anisotropic with respect to the axis normal to the membrane and can orient in the plane of the membrane if the curvature field is strongly anisotropic. Taking this into account, the membrane free energy is derived starting from a single-molecule energy and using methods of statistical mechanics. By linking the description on the microscopic level with the continuum theory of elasticity we recover the expression for the membrane bending energy and obtain an additional (deviatoric) contribution due to the orientational ordering of the phospholipid molecules. It is shown that the deviatoric contribution may considerably decrease the phospholipid vesicle membrane free energy if the vesicle involves regions where the difference between the two principal curvatures is large (thin cylindrical protrusions and/or thin finite necks) and thereby yields a possible explanation for the stability of the long thin tubular protrusions of the phospholipid bilayer vesicles. We report on the experiment exhibiting a stable shape of the spherical phospholipid vesicle with a long thin tubular protrusion in pure water.

Growth and shape transformations of giant phospholipid vesicles upon interaction with an aqueous oleic acid suspension.

The interaction of two types of vesicle systems was investigated: micrometer-sized, giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) formed from 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) and submicrometer-sized, large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) formed from oleic acid and oleate, both in a buffered aqueous solution (pH 8.8). Individual POPC GUVs were transferred with a micropipette into a suspension of oleic acid/oleate LUVs, and the shape changes of the GUVs were monitored using optical microscopy. The behavior of POPC GUVs upon transfer into a 0.8mM suspension of oleic acid, in which oleic acid/oleate forms vesicular bilayer structures, was qualitatively different from the behavior upon transfer into a 0.3mM suspension of oleic acid/oleate, in which oleic acid/oleate is predominantly present in the form of monomers and possibly non-vesicular aggregates. In both cases, changes in vesicle morphology were observed within tens of seconds after the transfer. After an initial increase of the vesicle cross-section, the vesicle started to evaginate, spawning dozens of satellite vesicles connected to the mother vesicle with narrow necks or tethers. In 60% of the cases of transfer into a 0.8mM oleic acid suspension, the evagination process reversed and proceeded to the point where the membrane formed invaginations. In some of these cases, several consecutive transitions between invaginated and evaginated shapes were observed. In the remaining 40% of the cases of transfer into the 0.8mM oleic acid suspension and in all cases of vesicle transfer into the 0.3mM oleic acid suspension, no invaginations nor subsequent evaginations were observed. An interpretation of the observed vesicle shape transformation on the basis of the bilayer-couple model is proposed, which takes into account uptake of oleic acid/oleate molecules by the POPC vesicles, oleic acid flip-flop processes and transient pore formation.

Myelin-like protrusions of giant phospholipid vesicles prepared by electroformation

Abstract Quasistable shapes of phospholipid bilayer vesicles obtained by formation in an alternating electric field [M.I. Angelova, S. Soleau, Ph. Meleard, J.F. Faucon, P. Bothorel, Prog. Colloid Polym. Sci. 89 (1992) 127; V. Heinrich, R.E. Waugh, Ann. Biomed. Eng. 24 (1996) 595] are observed. The vesicles appearing as composed of a mother sphere and a thin tubular myelin-like protrusion, are found to be a common phase in the spontaneous slow shape transformation that yields giant fluctuating phospholipid vesicles of different shapes. In the shape transformation, the myelin-like protrusion, which acts as a reservoir for the membrane area, is integrated into the mother vesicle.

Electroformation in a flow chamber with solution exchange as a means of preparation of flaccid giant vesicles.

A recently described technique [Estes and Mayer, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1712 (2005) 152-160] for the preparation of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in solutions with high ionic strength is examined. By observing a series of osmotic swellings followed by vesicle bursts upon a micropipette transfer of a single POPC GUV from a sucrose solution into an iso-osmolar glycerol solution, a value for the permeability of POPC membrane for glycerol, P=(2.09+/-0.82) x 10(-8)m/s, has been obtained. Based on this result, an alternative mechanism is proposed for the observed exchange of vesicle interior. With modifications, the method of Estes and Mayer is then applied to preparation of flaccid GUVs.

Possible role of phospholipid nanotubes in directed transport of membrane vesicles

Abstract We indicate that membrane nanotubes may have an important role in directed transport of membrane vesicles between different membrane-enclosed compartments in cells. We present experimental evidence that small blebs of phospholipid nanotube may travel along the nanotube and act as vehicles for transporting the enclosed solution. We have also observed similar small membrane blebs of a long membrane tube in red blood cells. In both cases the small vesicles seem to be a distended integral part of the membrane tube and not independent vesicles entrapped within the tube.

Permeability of phospholipid membrane for small polar molecules determined from osmotic swelling of giant phospholipid vesicles

A method for determining permeability of phospholipid bilayer based on the osmotic swelling of micrometer-sized giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) is presented as an alternative to the two established techniques, dynamic light scattering on liposome suspension, and electrical measurements on planar lipid bilayers. In the described technique, an individual GUV is transferred using a micropipette from a sucrose/glucose solution into an isomolar solution containing the solute under investigation. Throughout the experiment, vesicle cross-section is monitored and recorded using a digital camera mounted on a phase-contrast microscope. Using a least-squares procedure for circle fitting, vesicle radius R is computed from the recorded images of vesicle cross-section. Two methods for determining membrane permeability from the obtained R(t) dependence are described: the first one uses the slope of R(t) for a spherical GUV, and the second one the R(t) dependence around the transition point at which a flaccid vesicle transforms into a spherical one. We demonstrate that both methods give consistent estimates for membrane permeability.

Rotation of giant phospholipid vesicles in an uniform shear flow.

Rotation of giant “point attached” phospholipid (POPC) vesicles in a shear flow was studied. The dependence of the angular velocity on the flow gradient was measured and the experimental results were compared to the predictions of a theoretical model. A good linear correlation between the angular velocity of the vesicle and the flow gradient, as predicted, was observed.

Asymmetrical labeling of giant phospholipid vesicles

Abstract The method for labeling of inner membrane leaflet in unilamellar giant POPC vesicles was developed and characterised. Symmetrically NBD-PC labeled vesicles were treated by sodium dithionite, which undergoes an irreversible chemical reaction with NBD-PC molecule making it non-fluorescent. After the addition of dithionite the fluorescence on single vesicles as well as on vesicle suspension showed a 50 % decrease of its initial value corresponding to marker quenching in the outer leaflet. Hence, flourimetry as well as flourescence microscopy prove that dithionite quenching is a suitable method to induce an asymmetrical labeling of the NBD-PC marked giant vesicles.