Enhancing membrane modulus of giant unilamellar lipid vesicles by lateral co-assembly of amphiphilic triblock copolymers

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Mar 1:561:318-326. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.10.109. Epub 2019 Nov 1.

Abstract

We report a facile, but robust approach to fabricate structurally stable giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), on which a 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) bilayer membrane was made rigid by introducing amphiphilic block polymers. Particularly, we found that lateral co-assembly of an amphiphilic triblock copolymer (ATC) structured with a hydrophobic middle block and long molecular weight (20 K g/mol) hydrophilic end blocks remarkably enhanced the stretching modulus (k) of GUVs. When the membrane composition was optimized, the k value of ATC-hybridized GUVs increased to 6.2 × 108 Pa, which was approximately 10-fold higher than that of DPPC GUVs, thus leading to a much longer half-life. Moreover, we demonstrated that our ATC-hybridized GUVs enabled development of a fascinating vesicular model, which shows great potential as a structurally stable cell membrane mimic.

Keywords: Block copolymers; Giant unilamellar vesicles; Lateral co-assembly; Membrane modulus.

MeSH terms

  • 1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine / analogs & derivatives*
  • 1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine / chemistry
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Lipid Bilayers / chemistry*
  • Liposomes / chemistry*
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Unilamellar Liposomes / chemistry*

Substances

  • Lipid Bilayers
  • Liposomes
  • Polymers
  • Unilamellar Liposomes
  • 1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine
  • colfosceril palmitate