title: Super-resolution microscopy of lipid bilayer phases.
abstract: Sub-diffraction optical imaging with nanometer resolution of lipid phase-separated regions is reported. Merocyanine 540, a probe whose fluorescence is sensitive to the lipid phase, is combined with super-resolution imaging to distinguish the liquid- and gel-phase nanoscale domains of lipid bilayers supported on glass. The monomer-dimer equilibrium of MC540 in membranes is deemed responsible for the population difference of single-molecule fluorescence bursts in the different phase regions. The extension of this method to other binary or ternary lipid models or natural systems provides a promising new super-resolution strategy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania , 231 South 34th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6323, USA.
authors.forename: Chinkuei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Robin M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hochstrasser
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D011744:Pyrimidinones / Q000737:chemistry; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D011744:Pyrimidinones; C003954:merocyanine dye