Nanofiber-supported phospholipid bilayers

The natural cell cytoskeleton provides critical mechanical support for lipid bilayers using a network of actin fibers. As a step towards fabricating artificial cells, functional nanofiber networks were created to mimic the chemical and mechanical environment provided by the actin network. Lipid bilayers were formed on a random nanofiber mat made from ∼131 nm diameter polycaprolactam nanofibers modified to be highly hydrophilic by coating with 6.6 nm of silica (SiO2). The nanofiber-supported bilayers were characterized using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and electrophysiological recordings and found to be comparable to bilayer recordings from natural membranes. The nanofiber-supported bilayers were also more stable than conventional, unsupported, black lipid bilayers.

[1]  Fredrik Höök,et al.  Formation of Supported Lipid Bilayer Membranes on SiO2 from Proteoliposomes Containing Transmembrane Proteins , 2003 .

[2]  R. Benz,et al.  Electrical capacity of black lipid films and of lipid bilayers made from monolayers. , 1975, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[3]  W. Webb,et al.  Mobility measurement by analysis of fluorescence photobleaching recovery kinetics. , 1976, Biophysical journal.

[4]  David G Simpson,et al.  Nanofiber technology: designing the next generation of tissue engineering scaffolds. , 2007, Advanced drug delivery reviews.

[5]  A. Parikh,et al.  A class of supported membranes: formation of fluid phospholipid bilayers on photonic band gap colloidal crystals. , 2006, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[6]  A. Mackie,et al.  Lateral diffusion in planar lipid bilayers: a fluorescence recovery after photobleaching investigation of its modulation by lipid composition, cholesterol, or alamethicin content and divalent cations. , 1996, Biophysical journal.

[7]  K. Leong,et al.  The role of electrospinning in the emerging field of nanomedicine. , 2006, Current pharmaceutical design.

[8]  A. Parikh,et al.  Direct photochemical patterning and refunctionalization of supported phospholipid bilayers. , 2004, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[9]  K. Jacobson,et al.  Lipid lateral diffusion in the surface membrane of cells and in multibilayers formed from plasma membrane lipids. , 1981, Biochemistry.

[10]  P. Leduc,et al.  Chemically encapsulated structural elements for probing the mechanical responses of biologically inspired systems. , 2007, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[11]  George A. Parks,et al.  The Isoelectric Points of Solid Oxides, Solid Hydroxides, and Aqueous Hydroxo Complex Systems , 1965 .

[12]  R. Fettiplace,et al.  The thickness, composition and structure of some lipid bilayers and natural membranes , 1971, The Journal of Membrane Biology.

[13]  J. Lewis,et al.  Nanoparticle halos: A new colloid stabilization mechanism , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[14]  E. Sackmann,et al.  Supported Membranes: Scientific and Practical Applications , 1996, Science.

[15]  Michaela M. Smetazko,et al.  Supported membrane nanodevices. , 2004, Journal of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

[16]  S. Boxer,et al.  Early steps of supported bilayer formation probed by single vesicle fluorescence assays. , 2002, Biophysical journal.

[17]  C. Brinker,et al.  Evaporation-Induced Self-Assembly of Hybrid Bridged Silsesquioxane Film and Particulate Mesophases with Integral Organic Functionality , 2000 .

[18]  A Kusumi,et al.  Mobility and cytoskeletal interactions of cell adhesion receptors. , 1999, Current opinion in cell biology.

[19]  H. Mcconnell,et al.  Supported phospholipid bilayers. , 1985, Biophysical journal.

[20]  H. Freisleben,et al.  Black lipid membranes of tetraether lipids from Thermoplasma acidophilum. , 1992, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[21]  D. Pum,et al.  Highly robust lipid membranes on crystalline S-layer supports investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. , 2004, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[22]  Benjamin Chu,et al.  Functional electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds for biomedical applications. , 2007, Advanced drug delivery reviews.

[23]  C. Laurencin,et al.  Development of novel tissue engineering scaffolds via electrospinning , 2004, Expert opinion on biological therapy.

[24]  S. Ramakrishna,et al.  Applications of polymer nanofibers in biomedicine and biotechnology , 2005, Applied biochemistry and biotechnology.

[25]  Claudia Steinem,et al.  Impedance analysis and single-channel recordings on nano-black lipid membranes based on porous alumina. , 2004, Biophysical journal.

[26]  C. Brinker,et al.  Neutron reflectivity study of lipid membranes assembled on ordered nanocomposite and nanoporous silica thin films. , 2004, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[27]  F Bezanilla,et al.  Bilayer reconstitution of voltage-dependent ion channels using a microfabricated silicon chip. , 2001, Biophysical journal.

[28]  S. White.  Phase transitions in planar bilayer membranes. , 1975, Biophysical journal.

[29]  J. Groves,et al.  Supported planar bilayers in studies on immune cell adhesion and communication. , 2003, Journal of immunological methods.

[30]  F. MacKintosh,et al.  Viscoelastic properties of actin-coated membranes. , 2001, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[31]  M Montal,et al.  Formation of bimolecular membranes from lipid monolayers and a study of their electrical properties. , 1972, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[32]  A. Yarin,et al.  Desorption-limited mechanism of release from polymer nanofibers. , 2008, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[33]  A Kusumi,et al.  Cell surface organization by the membrane skeleton. , 1996, Current opinion in cell biology.