Lipid Bilayer Vesicle Generation Using Microfluidic Jetting

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Vis Exp
• Personal Author:
  Coyne, Christopher W. ; Patel, Karan ; Heureaux, Johanna ; Stachowiak, Jeanne ; Fletcher, Daniel A. ; Liu, Allen P.
• Description:
  SHORT ABSTRACT
  
  Microfluidic jetting against a droplet interface lipid bilayer provides a reliable way to generate vesicles with control over membrane asymmetry, incorporation of transmembrane proteins, and encapsulation of material. This technique can be applied to study a variety of biological systems where compartmentalized biomolecules are desired.
  
  LONG ABSTRACT
  
  Bottom-up synthetic biology presents a novel approach for investigating and reconstituting biochemical systems and, potentially, minimal organisms. This emerging field engages engineers, chemists, biologists, and physicists to design and assemble basic biological components into complex, functioning systems from the bottom up. Such bottom-up systems could lead to the development of artificial cells for fundamental biological inquiries and innovative therapies1,2. Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) can serve as a model platform for synthetic biology due to their cell-like membrane structure and size. Microfluidic jetting, or microjetting, is a technique that allows for the generation of GUVs with controlled size, membrane composition, transmembrane protein incorporation, and encapsulation3. The basic principle of this method is the use of multiple, high-frequency fluid pulses generated by a piezo-actuated inkjet device to deform a suspended lipid bilayer into a GUV. The process is akin to blowing soap bubbles from a soap film. By varying the composition of the jetted solution, the composition of the encompassing solution, and/or the components included in the bilayer, researchers can apply this technique to create customized vesicles. This paper describes the procedure to generate simple vesicles from a droplet interface bilayer by microjetting.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Article Lipid Bilayer Lipid Bilayers Microfluidic Jetting Microfluidics Microscopy, Fluorescence Synthetic Biology Vesicle Encapsulation
• Source:
  J Vis Exp. (84):e51510.
• Pubmed ID:
  24637415
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4130367
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  DP2 HL117748/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States ; DP2 HL117748-01/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States ; T32 EB005582/EB/NIBIB NIH HHS/United States
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:87ad49987c8faaed1e64800c6e37002cec7ebb68d47405f572bd3b4e431196dc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/30077/cdc_30077_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 592.71 KB ]