Size control of giant liposomes by a hydrogel-coated microarray chip

Abstract

Giant liposomes are spherical vesicles consist of closed freestanding lipid bilayers with diameters ranging from 10 to 200 micrometre. Due to their large dimensions, giant liposomes can be easily observed by optical microscope. Thus, giant liposomes are not only useful tool for biophysical basic researches but also hopeful biotechnological applications such as biosensors. A variety of methods have been developed for preparing giant liposomes. However, there remains difficulties to control the size of giant liposomes. Here, we present a solution to this challenge by a novel hydrogel-coated microarray chip. The chip allows gel-assisted formation of liposomes in a restricted area so that the size of liposomes can be controlled with a narrow size distribution. Moreover, giant liposomes formed on the microarray chips can be assayed for membrane proteins incorporation. This makes it possible to utilize the giant liposomes as membrane protein-based biosensor.