Morphological transitions of vesicles induced by AC electric fields

¹ Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
² Universidade Federal de São Paulo

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

Submitted on March 3, 2008
Revised on May 7, 2008
Accepted on 8 May 2008

	Abstract

When subjected to alternating electric (AC) fields in the frequency range 10² - 10⁸ Hz, giant lipid vesicles attain oblate, prolate and spherical shapes and undergo morphological transitions between these shapes as one varies the field frequency and/or the conductivities _in and _ex of the aqueous solution inside and outside the vesicles. Four different transitions are observed with characteristic frequencies that depend primarily on the conductivity ratio _in/_ex. The theoretical models that have been described in the literature are not able to describe all of these morphological transitions.

Key Words: electrodeformation, giant vesicles, membrane deformation, model membranes, vesicle morphology