Pore Spanning Lipid Bilayers on Mesoporous Silica Having Varying Pore Size

Abstract

Synthetic lipid bilayers have similar properties as cell membranes and have been shown to be of great use in the development of novel biomimicry devices. In this study, lipid bilayer formation on mesoporous silica of varying pore size, 2, 4, and 6 nm, has been investigated using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), fluorescent recovery after photo bleaching (FRAP), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show that pore-spanning lipid bilayers were successfully formed regardless of pore size. However, the mechanism of the bilayer formation was dependent on the pore size, and lower surface coverages of adsorbed lipid vesicles were required on the surface having the smallest pores. A similar trend was observed for the lateral diffusion coefficient (D) of fluorescently labeled lipid molecules in the membrane, which was lowest on the surface having the smallest pores and increased with the pore size. All of the pore size dependent observations are suggested to be due to the hydrophilicity of the surface, which decreases with increased pore size.

Engineering Lipid Bilayer Membranes for Protein Studies

“…One of the best possible solutions is to use porous silicon, PSi, to keep the transmembrane proteins in an environment as close as possible to the in vivo one. In addition, PSi has been highly used in drug delivery and other biological labels due it its high surface-area-to-volume ratios [161–169]. Moreover, its compatibility with electronic devices makes it more attractive for medical and electronic applications over other materials.…”

“…The mechanism for the formation of lipid bilayer membrane is dependent on the pore size, because small pores are required to achieve the lower surface coverage of adsorbed lipid vesicles. Therefore, pore size dependent observations are suggested to be due to the hydrophilicity of the surface, which decreases with increases in the pore size [161]. To fabricate pores (holes), different methods have been documented.…”

Poisson’s Ratio and Young’s Modulus of Lipid Bilayers in Different Phases

“…On small length scales, however, the contribution of the lipid bilayer will dominates. As such, efforts have been made to study the mechanical properties of bilayer patches with dimensions close to the mesh size of the actin cytoskeleton (Claesson et al, 2011). …”

Transmembrane Protein Diffusion in Gel-Supported Dual-Leaflet Membranes

“…Many studies have focused on lateral diffusion, because it facilitates membrane signaling (3). Among the tracers that have been studied in supported membranes are proteins (4,5), lipids (6), lipopolymers (7), and lipid rafts (8). Several lateral diffusion models are available (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).…”