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Optical stretching as a tool to investigate the mechanical properties of lipid bilayers†
Shalene Sankhagowit,Roshni Biswas,Camilo A. Mejia,Michelle L. Povinelli,Noah Malmstadt
RSC Advances Pub Date : 07/09/2013 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C3RA42510J
Abstract

Measurements of lipid bilayer bending moduli by various techniques produce widely divergent results. We attempt to resolve some of this ambiguity by measuring the bending modulus in a system that can rapidly process large numbers of samples, yielding population statistics. This system is based on optical stretching of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in a microfluidic dual-beam optical trap (DBOT). The microfluidic DBOT system is used here to measure three populations of GUVs with distinct lipid compositions. We find that gel-phase membranes are significantly stiffer than liquid-phase membranes, consistent with previous reports. We also find that the addition of cholesterol does not alter the bending modulus of membranes composed of a monounsaturated phospholipid.

Graphical abstract: Optical stretching as a tool to investigate the mechanical properties of lipid bilayers
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