Post-Assembly Filling of Supported Lipid Bilayers by Soluble Lipid Derivatives
Year: 2016
Journal: Bull. Korean Chem. Soc.
Authors: Chung, M; Kim, B; Won, JI
Supported lipid bilayers (SLB) are widely used model biological membranes formed on glass or silica surfaces. Though subtle differences from the properties of free-standing membranes have been reported, its integrity and completeness is seldom questioned. In this report, we show that several different molecules, including some dye-labeled lipids, can insert from water into preformed and seemingly complete bilayers. The amount of insertion and the bilayer properties after filling were analyzed by a fluorescence bleaching/quenching experiment. The nature of this post-assembly saturation of SLB is discussed and supported by comparative experiments. This counter-intuitive but very reproducible result may help to further understand this model bilayer system.
