help button home button Biophys. J.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
Biophys. J. BioFAST: First Published December 13, 2004. doi:10.1529/biophysj.104.050310
© 2004 by the Biophysical Society.

A more recent version of this article appeared on February 1, 2005.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (Rapid PDF)
Right arrow supplemental files
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
biophysj.104.050310v1
88/2/1143    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Author home page(s):
Rumiana Dimova
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Riske, K. d. A.
Right arrow Articles by Dimova, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Riske, K. d. A.
Right arrow Articles by Dimova, R.

MEMBRANES

Electro-deformation and -poration of giant vesicles viewed with high temporal resolution

Karin do Amaral Riske 1 and Rumiana Dimova 1*

1 Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dimova{at}mpikg-golm.mpg.de.

Submitted on July 26, 2004
Revised on September 23, 2004
Accepted on 22 November 2004


  Abstract
Fast digital imaging was used to study the deformation and poration of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) subjected to electric pulses. For the first time the dynamics of response and relaxation of the membrane at micron-scale level is revealed at a time resolution of 30µs. Above a critical transmembrane potential the lipid bilayer ruptures. Formation of macropores (diameter ~2µm) with pore lifetime around 10ms has been detected. The pore lifetime has been interpreted as an interplay between the pore edge tension and the membrane viscosity. The reported data, covering six decades of time, shows the following regimes in the relaxation dynamics of the membrane. Tensed vesicles first relax to release the acquired stress due to stretching, ~100µs. In the case of poration, membrane resealing occurs with a characteristic time of ~10ms. Finally, for vesicles with excess area an additional slow regime was observed, ~1s, which we associate with relaxation of membrane curvature. Dimensional analysis can reasonably well explain the corresponding characteristic timescales. Being performed on cell-sized GUVs, this study brings insight to cell electroporation. The latter is widely used for gene transfection and drug transport across the membrane where processes occurring at different timescales may influence the efficiency.

Key Words: electroporation, fast digital imaging, giant unilamellar vesicles, macropores, optical microscopy, vesicle dynamics




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Biophys. JHome page
K. Carvalho, L. Ramos, C. Roy, and C. Picart
Giant Unilamellar Vesicles Containing Phosphatidylinositol(4,5)bisphosphate: Characterization and Functionality
Biophys. J., November 1, 2008; 95(9): 4348 - 4360.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Biophys. JHome page
S. Aranda, K. A. Riske, R. Lipowsky, and R. Dimova
Morphological Transitions of Vesicles Induced by Alternating Electric Fields
Biophys. J., July 15, 2008; 95(2): L19 - L21.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Biophys. JHome page
L. J. C. Jeuken
AFM Study on the Electric-Field Effects on Supported Bilayer Lipid Membranes
Biophys. J., June 15, 2008; 94(12): 4711 - 4717.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
C. K. Haluska, K. A. Riske, V. Marchi-Artzner, J.-M. Lehn, R. Lipowsky, and R. Dimova
From the Cover: Time scales of membrane fusion revealed by direct imaging of vesicle fusion with high temporal resolution
PNAS, October 24, 2006; 103(43): 15841 - 15846.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Biophys. JHome page
K. A. Riske and R. Dimova
Electric Pulses Induce Cylindrical Deformations on Giant Vesicles in Salt Solutions
Biophys. J., September 1, 2006; 91(5): 1778 - 1786.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
Copyright © 2004 by the Biophysical Society.