Abstract
Lyotropic myelin figures (MFs), i.e., long cylindrical structures formed by certain surfactants, owe their name to their resemblance to the biological membrane that covers nerve fibers. Herein, we used a strong bilayer-forming zwitterionic phospholipid stained by the Nile Red dye to study lamellar mesophases. Polarized optical microscopy and fluorescence confocal microscopy allowed us to investigate the morphology of myelin structures and determine the orientational order of amphiphilic molecules. The cross-sectional views reveal significant differences in the configurations of MFs within the liquid crystalline cell, as well as the details of a spontaneous and stimulated formation of branched lipid tubes. Our results provide insights into small-scale morphology and out-of-equilibrium structural changes in the multilamellar structures.
Highlights
There has been a growing interest in the studies of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLC) due to their essential role in diverse biological systems.[1−5] The well-known example of an LLC is myelin sheath, which is responsible for the efficient propagation of action potential between neurons
Myelin structures were obtained from phospholipids doped with Nile Red using the contact experiment
The combination of polarized light and confocal fluorescence microscopy allowed us to study the structural changes in lipid tubes
Summary
There has been a growing interest in the studies of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLC) due to their essential role in diverse biological systems.[1−5] The well-known example of an LLC is myelin sheath, which is responsible for the efficient propagation of action potential between neurons. The morphology of myelin tubes was determined by confocal fluorescence microscopy These studies were carried out using an Olympus FV3000RS confocal microscope equipped with a 60× oil immersion objective. The orientation of phospholipids stained by anisotropic NR molecules in lamellar mesophase was investigated by fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy.[27] The observations were performed using an Olympus IX81 inverted microscope equipped with a 100× oil immersion objective. (d) Confocal fluorescent image of myelin figures stained by Nile Red. The vertical and horizontal lines indicate spatial locations at which the cross-sectional confocal views of myelin tubes were obtained (displayed on the right-hand side and below the plan view, respectively). 600 nm selected by optical filters, with the linear polarization direction in the detection channel matching that of the excitation light
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