SelfAssembly of Vesicular Systems
Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) with sizes ranging from 5 to 100 |im are intensely studied in diverse areas, focusing on membrane functions such as adhesion, fusion, fission (Luisi and Walde 1999), or generation and properties of nanotubes and network assemblies. A number of methods to create giant vesicles have been reported. One of the methods is based on a dehydration-rehydration procedure described by Criado and Keller (1987). As a variant, the rehydration of thin dried films obtained after evaporation of the solvent from lipid-protein complexes solubilized in organic solvents has been used to produce giant proteoliposomes (Darszon et al. 1980). The advantage of the dehydration/rehydration method is the compatibility with a large range of buffer compositions, specifically with high ionic strength buffers. This method produces, however, a large proportion of multilamellar vesicles related to the uncontrolled rehydration process. This disadvantage has been removed in the electroformation technique Angelova and Dimitrov (1986), in which a lipid film is rehydrated in the presence of an alternating current (AC) electric field, and GUVs with a more homogeneous size distribution around 25 | m in diameter can be generated. Reconstitution of membrane proteins by electroformation is possible only with limitations, given the use of organic solvents, for example, diethyl ether, that are not compatible with amphiphilic membrane proteins.
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