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Centre de Recherche en Matière Condensée et Nanosciences, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France
Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Anne Charrier, Tel.: 33-4-91-82-9242; E-mail: charrier{at}crmcn.univ-mrs.fr.
| ABSTRACT |
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) transitions, corresponding to the independent melting of each leaflet of the bilayer. The ratio of each phase with temperature and the large broadening of the transitions' widths have been interpreted through a basic thermodynamic framework in which the surface tension varies during the transitions. The experimental data can be fit with such a model using known thermodynamic parameters. | INTRODUCTION |
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The presence of these transitions depends on the lipid type chosen for the study as well as on its structure (7
,10
,11
). Although these phase transitions have been studied for different lipids by many techniques (12
14
), the study of supported bilayers has seen a renewal in the last 10 years with the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM), which offers a direct observation of the surface. Many articles report the observation of the main gel/fluid transition for monotype lipid or lipid mixtures by AFM, but few works present data obtained in real-time by AFM with a temperature-controlled system. Among these studies, Tokumasu et al. (12
) and Feng Xie et al. (14
) have studied the gel/fluid phase transition of single-bilayers of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) on mica. In contrast to a free-standing bilayer (FSB) for which the main transition is sharp (the transition width is lower than 1°C; see Ref. 13
) and occurs at 23.7°C (7
), they show that the transition in the supported bilayer is much broader (8°C) and shifted to
28°C (12
). Tokumasu et al. (12
) explain this large transition width through a finite-size-limited first-order transition model in which the diameter of intrinsic domains is 4.2 nm, whereas Feng Xie et al. (14
) interpret this behavior in the framework of a classic van't Hoff transition.
In this work, we also present a temperature-controlled AFM study of DMPC single-bilayers supported on a mica substrate. Although our results are similar to those of Tokumasu et al. (12
) and Feng Xie et al. (14
), sharing features such as the transition width and the temperature shift, our interpretation differs drastically. We model these properties with a basic thermodynamic framework without the use of more elaborated theory as has been done previously. In contrast to vesicles, the transition in supported layers occurs at nearly constant surface area. Simply taking into account this fact, we show that the expected temperature transition width corresponds to the observed temperature width measured by AFM. In addition, we show the existence of two independent transitions on a supported single-bilayer that we attribute to the independent melting of each leaflet of the bilayer.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Muscovite mica disks (JBG-Metafix, Montdidier, France) are used as substrates. Bilayers are obtained by the fusion of DMPC vesicles onto the mica substrate. Before each lipid adsorption, the mica samples are cleaved and set in our liquid cell with 200 µl of 10 mM NaCl solution. The subsequent addition of 200 µl DMPC vesicles solution (at 1 mg/ml, 10 mM NaCl) at room temperature (2223°C, just below the FSB transition temperature) followed by an active stirring leads to the formation of a single-bilayer over the substrate, with a surface coverage of 9598%. Before the AFM experiments, the liquid cell is rinsed many times with 10 mM NaCl solution to remove the excess DMPC vesicles without drying the sample.
Temperature-controlled atomic force microscopy
The heating and cooling system consists of a Peltier element located directly below the sample. The liquid cell is placed on top of the sample. The temperature is monitored by a homemade thermocouple of type K maintained directly on top of the sample. The measured temperature is a relative temperature with respect to the room temperature, which is monitored separately with a thermometer. This experimental setup allows us to follow the lipid bilayer under the AFM from 5°C to 65°C in a real-time continuous acquisition. All imaging was carried out in liquid tapping mode using a stand-alone AFM from NT-MDT (Zelenograd, Moscow, Russia).
Image acquisition and processing
Images were taken at a scan rate of 1 Hz while the sample was continuously heated under the AFM at 0.1°C/min. All the AFM data were converted to JPEG files. To estimate the percentage of each phase and holes, we used the color range selection function of the software Photoshop (Adobe Systems, San Jose, CA). The percentage of each phase and hole were obtained by counting the pixels of the corresponding range of color.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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4.5 nm, which is in agreement with the height of a typical DMPC bilayer (4
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4.5 nm, and it corresponds to the thickness of a DMPC bilayer. They are attributed to holes in the bilayer. As the temperature increases, small islands appear on the surface (see Fig. 2). Such islands have already been observed by AFM and have been attributed to different phases where the lower phase (darker contrast) corresponds to a fluid phase whereas the upper one (lighter contrast) is gel (6
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gel, and Pß ripple. One may therefore think that transition 1 observed in our experiment is a gel/gel transition whereas transition 2 would be the main gel/fluid transition. However, we exclude the presence of a gel/gel transition. Indeed, one could consider two cases. The first one is a planar (Lc subgel, Lß gel,
) to ripple gel (Pß,
) transition. Because our high resolution AFM images show neither the modulations created by the lipids (9
state (7
state.
In comparison with the gel/fluid transition temperature observed for free standing DMPC vesicles (23.7°C; see Ref. 7
), the transition in the supported bilayer occurs at higher temperature. The beginning of the transition is shifted by 23.5°C and the end of the transition is shifted by 811°C with respect to the main transition temperature of vesicles. Such shifts in transition temperature have been reported in previous studies between FSB and DMPC-supported bilayers on mica (12
,14
). We could attribute this phenomenon to the substrate interaction with the first layer that would limit the membrane fluctuations. Although this limitation should induce a transition temperature shift, we believe the effect is weak compared to the one induced by the difference of surface tension between an FSB and a bilayer supported on a substrate. Another major difference in the behavior of FSB and supported DMPC bilayers is the transition widths (FSB have transition widths much smaller than 1°C). The large widths observed for a supported bilayer have been interpreted through a finite-size-limited first-order transition model or in a van't Hoff theory framework (12
,14
). In the following section, we calculate the transition width simply taking into account that the transition in supported layers does not occur at constant tension as in the case of vesicles. We will show that this difference is sufficient to explain the large temperature width of the transition.
Model
In a free-standing bilayer, the variation in molecular area during the transition is at least 12% (depending on the initial gel phase; see Ref. 7
). To spread on the surface during the transition, the supported-bilayer needs a lipid-free area either on the surface or to leave the substrate. We have excluded the latter possibility. In our case the variation of surface corresponding to the filling of the holes in the surface is
2%. Compared to the variation of molecular area in the FSB, this limited surface variation implies the tension in the bilayer changes in the transition to maintain a constant average molecular area in the layer. Therefore, in contrast with FSB in solution for which the transitions occur at constant tension and variable surface, the transition in the supported single-bilayer occurs at variable surface tension and nearly constant surface. During the transition, the equilibrium temperatures at different gel/fluid ratios correspond to melting temperatures at different surface tensions. In a basic model of constant surface transition, the ratio of each phase, the temperature, and the surface tension can be easily related to the parameters measured for a transition at constant tension. The shift in surface tension and the shift in melting temperature, with respect to those of an FSB, are related by the Clausius-Clapeyron equation
![]() | (1) |
is the surface tension and Tm is the transition temperature of the vesicle. Its value is 23.7°C (7
H0 and
A0 are, respectively, the melting enthalpy and variations in the molecular area between the gel and the fluid phases during a transition at constant tension. For small variations in transition temperature, this leads to
![]() | (2) |
(see Ref. 22
At a given temperature T during the transition, if one assumes the gel-to-fluid phases ratio to be at equilibrium, Eq. 2 allows the evaluation of the tension shift in the supported layer 
with respect to the tension of a vesicle with
Tm = T Tm. Obviously, the surface tension shift originates from the surface's inability to expand during the transition. This means that the fluid phase is compressed compared to the fluid phase of an FSB. For a given phase, the variation in molecular area is related to the variation in tension and the variation in temperature by
![]() | (3) |
is the bilayer compressibility, K is the thermal expansion coefficient, and A is the molecular area. Equation 3, written for the gel or the fluid phase, and Eq. 2 give
![]() | (4) |
is the molecular area of the considered phase for a supported bilayer during the transition at the considered temperature T (Af
and Ag
are the molecular areas of, respectively, the fluid and the gel phase corresponding to a fluid phase ratio
). With Eq. 4 one can evaluate the relative molecular area of each phase during the transition of the supported layer with respect to the molecular area of the corresponding phases in an FSB at Tm.
We now consider the transition starting from a gelled supported layer with the same molecular area as in an FSB. This transition occurs at constant surface and constant matter. These assumptions lead to
![]() | (5) |
is the ratio of the fluid phase, and Af
and Ag
are the molecular areas in, respectively, the fluid and the gel phases for a given
. With Eqs. 4 and 5, a relationship between the ratio of one phase and the temperature can be easily established as
![]() | (6) |
m = Ag/Af corresponding to the molecular area ratio between the fluid and the gel states for the FSB at Tm. This relation is plotted on Fig. 4.
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f,
g, Kf, and Kg, we have chosen typical values found in the literature for bilayers: for the L
phase,
f
6.9 m2/J (13
g
1.1 m2/J (13
H0 and
A0, different values can be found in the literature leading to a large dispersion of ß (between 1.5 103 Jm2 K1 and 2.7 103 Jm2 K1) (13
m was taken from the literature for the
-L
transition (7
m = 0.88). It is important to notice that whereas the value of ß doubles if we consider a bilayer instead of a leaflet, the value of
is halved. As K is the same for both the leaflet and the bilayer, Eqs. 4 and 6, written with values for the bilayer, remains valid for a single leaflet (and vice versa). Thus, the calculation can be applied to model a bilayer transition or an independent single leaflet transition (this assumes a weak coupling between leaflets). Fig. 4 shows that the transition is accompanied by a large temperature width. Thus, although this constant surface transition model does not fit our data, we believe the large temperature width observed in AFM experiments must be attributed to a nearly constant surface transition. To improve the agreement with our data, we must consider other factors. First, hole-closing is observed during the transition leading to a small variation in the layer surface. Second, even though the supported layer is obtained from gelled vesicles fusion, the lipid density of the layer after vesicles fusion may differ from the density in the vesicles. These considerations replace Eq. 5 with
![]() | (7) |
= 0). The values 
and
g are the bilayer surface coverages for, respectively, a given
, and at the beginning of the transition. Assuming a linear closing of the holes with
gives
![]() | (8) |
f is the final coverage of the leaflet. From Eqs. 4, 7, and 8 we obtain
![]() | (9) |
/Af
is deduced from Eq. 4 and equals
![]() | (10) |
Resolving Eq. 9 leads to a relationship between the ratio of the fluid phase (
) or the gel phase (1
) and the temperature T. In the following we describe how the different equation parameters are chosen or calculated.
The coverages at the beginning and at the end of the transition,
g and
f, are obtained from the experimental AFM results. Their ratio
g/
f is related to the closing of holes. For the first transition, the variation in coverage of the leaflet is equal to twice the apparent variation in surface coverage. Indeed, during transition 1, the thermal expansion of the leaflet in the
state is expected to be very low since it is still gel. Therefore the closing of the hole implies the transfer of molecules from the transiting leaflet to the gelled one. In this case, the variation in coverage of the transiting leaflet corresponds roughly to the double of the holes closing measured by AFM (
2%). From our AFM images this leads to
g/
f = 0.96. For the second transition, the closing of holes is negligible and we choose
g/
f = 1. The values Ag
/Ag0 can be written as (Ag
/Ag) x (Ag/Ag0). From Eq. 4, one can evaluate the area compression (
= Ag/Ag0) of each leaflet with respect to the FSB at the beginning of their transition. These compressions are responsible for the temperature shift at the beginning of the melting with respect to the melting temperature of an FSB. For the first transiting leaflet and second transiting leaflet, the compressions found are, respectively, 0.5% and 2.6%. For the same values of
f,
g, Kf, Kg, and
m used previously and with
= 1.005 corresponding to the 0.5% of compression of the first transiting leaflet, the solution of Eq. 9 is plotted on Fig. 5 with an experimental curve resulting from the average of the three different measurements. Fairly good agreements are found between the experimental and calculated curves. The same calculation has been applied for the second transition. With 2.6% of compression for the second transiting leaflet with respect to the FSB, the transition width cannot be fit with the same parameters as used for the first transiting leaflet. To fit the data, we have slightly lowered the compressibility of the fluid phase to 5.78 m2/J instead of 6.9 m2/J for the first transiting leaflet layer. This decrease in compressibility is probably due to a higher density of lipids in the leaflet than in the other one.
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m, the relative variation in molecular area in an FSB, has been taken from the literature. However,
m can be estimated from our model. Writing Eq. 4 for the gel phase at the beginning of the transition (at Tg) and the fluid phase at the end of the transition (at Tf) and considering the conservation of matter during the transition (
g/Ag0 =
f/Af1, where Ag0 and Af1 are the molecular areas at the beginning and at the end of the transition, respectively) leads to
![]() | (11) |
m = 0.88). This value is in good agreement with previous measurements obtained for the
-L
transition (7
Melting temperature of the leaflets
For the first time, AFM experiment demonstrates two main phase transitions on a supported DMPC single-bilayer. Our calculation shows the features of these transitions are in agreement with the constant surface melting of two DMPC leaflets having different densities. An obvious difference between the two leaflets is their non-equivalent environment. The inner leaflet is at the lipid/substrate interface whereas the outer one is at the lipid/solution interface. Considering the outer leaflet, its environment is quite similar to that of an FSB. We expect its melting temperature to be the closest to that of an FSB. Thus we attribute the first transition to the outer leaflet melting. We think the interaction of the inner leaflet lipids with the mica substrate is strong enough to modify the density in the inner leaflet. The density of lipids in the inner leaflet is related to the adsorption energy of lipids on the substrate. On one hand, the gain of energy due to the adsorption of lipids on the substrate tends to increase the density of lipids in the inner leaflet relative to the outer one. On the other hand, this increase raises the energy in the leaflet due to the repulsive interactions between the lipids. A higher density of lipids in the inner leaflet with respect to the outer leaflet can then be expected at equilibrium. The higher the adsorption energy, the higher the density in the inner leaflet will be. The large melting temperature difference observed infers large adsorption energy of DMPC on mica. This is consistent with the high negative surface charge of mica, which most likely presents a high affinity for the positive DMPC terminal amine group. The observation of different melting temperatures indicates that the coupling between the two leaflets is weak in agreement with previous studies (26
,27
).
Considering simply that the transition occurs at nearly constant surface and nonconstant tension, we have been able to model the observed transition widths using parameters found in the literature. In this model, we have not considered the line tensions at either the phase boundaries or the holes' edges (28
). This could explain the small differences observed between the model and the experimental data. Moreover, we have assumed a linear closing of the holes, which is not always verified, leading to narrow transition widths. Depending on this transition width, one may wonder whether a van't Hoff formalism would become valid again.
| CONCLUSIONS |
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We have also demonstrated two transitions arising from the independent melting of each leaflet at different temperatures. The shifts in temperature with respect to the FSB are attributed to different leaflet compressions induced by the adsorption of the lipids on the mica substrate. These findings are crucial since fluidity is a major feature required for technological applications.
Submitted on March 11, 2005; accepted for publication May 4, 2005.
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