溶媒の蒸発が誘起する一枚膜リポソームの変形

抄録

Membranes surrounding cells and organelles are mainly composed of phospholipids. In order to study the physical characteristics of cell membranes, cell-sized liposomes (giant vesicles or GVs) composed of phospholipids are used as a model system. Since the lipid bilayer membrane is extremely soft, it can easily deform into various shapes when the membrane is in excess to the vesicle volume. Here we evaporated the solvent (water) in the suspending medium to gradually concentrate the solution. As GUVs deflate due to the osmotic action, characteristic deformations of GVs, such as internal budding and amoeba-like shapes, were observed depending on the concentrations of MgCl₂.