Making Lipid Membranes Rough, Tough, and Ready to Hit the Road

Abstract

Solid-supported lipid bilayers hold strong promise as bioanalytical sensor platforms because they readily mimic the same multivalent ligand-receptor interactions that occur in real cells. Such devices might be used to monitor air and water quality under realworld conditions. At present, however, supported membranes are considered too fragile to survive the harsh environments typically required for non-laboratory use. Specifically, they lack the resiliency to withstand air exposure and the thermal and mechanical stresses associated with device transport, storage, and continuous use over long periods of time. Several successful strategies are now emerging to make supported membranes tougher. These strategies incorporate mimics of the cytoskeleton and glycocalyx of real cell membranes. The promise of these more robust lipid bilayer architectures indicates that future materials should be designed to more fully resemble the actual structure of cell membranes.

A Stable Lipid/TiO2 Interface with Headgroup-Inversed Phosphocholine and a Comparison with SiO2

“…14 For applications that require more robust films, other types of interfacial chemistry needs to be explored. [15][16][17][18][19] It is interesting to note that PC liposomes do not readily fuse with many other types of surfaces, including Fe3O4, TiO2, and highly oxidized graphene oxide. 20,21 Instead, the liposomes are stably adsorbed by these surfaces.…”

SNARE-mediated Fusion of Single Proteoliposomes with Tethered Supported Bilayers in a Microfluidic Flow Cell Monitored by Polarized TIRF Microscopy

“…Bilayers cushioned on a soft polymer layer had been known to better preserve transmembrane protein mobility and function 32 , and had been used in fusion studies with viruses 33 . In addition, PEGylated bilayers seem to retain some ability to self-heal and are very robust 34,35 . First, a fraction of commercially available, lipid-linked PEG chains are included in the t-SUV membrane.…”

Combinatorial microscopy for the study of protein–membrane interactions in supported lipid bilayers: Order parameter measurements by combined polarized TIRFM/AFM

“…Substrate-supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) have attracted considerable interest as models of cellular membranes (Castellana and Cremer, 2006;Chan and Boxer, 2007;Daniel et al, 2006;Groves and Dustin, 2003;Groves et al, 1997;Kohli et al, 2006;Lenhert et al, 2007;Ottova and Tien, 2002;Richter et al, 2006;Sackmann, 1996;Stroumpoulis et al, 2007;Tamm and McConnell, 1985;Tanaka and Sackmann, 2006). Proteins reconstituted in SLBs have been shown to retain their native activity while the lipid components remain mobile, due primarily to the thin $1-2 nm water layer that separates the lower leaflet of the bilayer from the solid support (Kiessling and Tamm, 2003;Johnson et al, 1991;Koenig et al, 1996).…”