Abstract
Electroformation of cell-sized lipid membrane vesicles (giant vesicles, GVs) from egg yolk phosphatidylcholine was examined using a poly(ethylene terephthalate) sheet coated with indium tin oxide (ITO-PET) as the electrode material. With sinusoidal ac voltage, GV formation occurred in a similar manner to that on an ITO-glass electrode widely used in electroformation. Difference in the specific electrical resistance of ITO-PET did not significantly affect electroformation. The present results indicate that ITO-PET may be used as more flexible and less expensive electrode material in electroformation. In order to obtain insights into electroformation, other electric voltage forms, static dc and dc pulses, were also tested in place of commonly used sinusoidal ac. Under the present conditions, the best GV formation was observed with dc pulses of negative polarity. The result with static dc demonstrated that the mechanical vibration of swelling lipid seen with sinusoidal ac voltage was not essential for GV formation. On the positive electrode, the electroswelling of lipid mainly yielded non-spherical membranous objects. Pre-application of positive dc voltage on lipid hindered GV formation in electroswelling of the lipid with ac.
Highlights
Large lipid membrane vesicles of the size comparable with biological cells have been used in various studies as model membranes [1,2]
It is possible to modify the structure of the setup, for example, to a flow chamber or microfluidic channels [10,11]
In addition to commonly used sinusoidal ac, static dc and dc pulses were tested as applied voltage, to obtain some valuable insights into electroformation
Summary
Large lipid membrane vesicles of the size comparable with biological cells (giant vesicles, GVs) have been used in various studies as model membranes [1,2]. Among the known preparation methods of GVs [2], swelling of lipid on an electrode upon application of electric voltage, commonly known as electroformation or electroswelling, has been widely used [2,3]. A pair of thin wire electrodes made of platinum or a set of two planar electrodes have been the two different electrode setups of electroformation commonly used [6,7,8,9]. ITO-PET has a few advantages over ITO-glass It is more flexible and cut to arbitrary shapes. ITO-PET is soft and can tolerate a stronger physical shock than ITO-glass of the same thickness. In addition to commonly used sinusoidal ac, static dc and dc pulses were tested as applied voltage, to obtain some valuable insights into electroformation
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