Lipid diffusion in giant unilamellar vesicles is more than 2 times faster than in supported phospholipid bilayers under identical conditions

Langmuir. 2006 Oct 24;22(22):9096-9. doi: 10.1021/la061934p.

Abstract

The lateral diffusion coefficients of a BODIPY tail-labeled lipid in two model systems, namely, free-standing giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) and supported phospholipid bilayers (SPBs), were determined by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) using the Z-scan approach. For the first time, the performed measurements on 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) bilayers maintain exactly the same experimental conditions for both systems, which allows for a quantitative comparison of lipid diffusion in these two commonly used model membranes. The results obtained revealed that the lipid mobility in free-standing bilayers (D=7.8+/-0.8 microm2 s-1) is significantly higher than in the bilayer created on the solid support (mica) (D=3.1+/-0.3 microm2 s-1).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Diffusion
  • Lipid Bilayers / chemistry*
  • Phosphatidylcholines / chemistry*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Lipid Bilayers
  • Phosphatidylcholines
  • 1,2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine