Fluorescence microscopic investigation on morphological changes of giant multilamellar vesicles induced by amphiphilic additives.
Adding an artificial bolaamphiphile to a dispersion of giant multilamellar vesicles (GMVs) made of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) induced a cup-shaped deformation in GMVs accompanied by partial extrusion of the inner vesicle; thereafter, the deformed vesicles returned to their original shape. On the other hand, when the artificial bolaamphiphile together with a surfactant was added to the vesicular dispersion, these deformation and reformation dynamics were transmitted from the outer membranes in GMVs to the inner membranes until an intact inner vesicle was extruded out of the outer membrane. The microscopic aspects of these processes were investigated using amphiphiles tagged with individual fluorophores.
Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
Taro
T
Toyota
Hirotatsu
H
Tsuha
Koji
K
Yamada
Katsuto
K
Takakura
Kenji
K
Yasuda
Tadashi
T
Sugawara