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Biophys. J. BioFAST: First Published April 14, 2006. doi:10.1529/biophysj.105.068502
© 2006 by the Biophysical Society.

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2006.
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MEMBRANES

ENTROPIC TRAPS IN THE KINETICS OF PHASE SEPARATION IN MULTICOMPONENT MEMBRANES

Vladimir A. Frolov 1, Yuri A. Chizmadzhev 1, Fredric Cohen 2 and Joshua Zimmerberg 3*

1 Russian Academy of Sciences and NIH
2 Rush Medical College
3 National Institutes of Health

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: joshz{at}helix.nih.gov.

Submitted on June 10, 2005
Revised on September 22, 2005
Accepted on 30 January 2006


  Abstract
We describe quantitatively the creation and evolution of phase-separated domains in a multicomponent lipid bilayer membrane. The early stages, termed the nucleation stage, and the independent growth stage, are extremely rapid (characteristic times are submillisecond and millisecond, respectively) and the system consists of nanodomains of average radius ~ 5 -50 nm. Next, mobility of domains becomes consequential; domain merger and fission become the dominant mechanisms of matter exchange, and line tension {gamma} is the main determinant of the domain size distribution at any point in time. For sufficiently small {gamma}, the decrease in the entropy term that results from domain merger is larger than the decrease in boundary energy, and only nanodomains are present. For large {gamma}, the decrease in boundary energy dominates the unfavorable entropy of merger, and merger leads to rapid enlargement of nanodomains to radii of micrometer scale. At intermediate line tensions and within finite times, nanodomains can remain dispersed and coexist with a new global phase. The theoretical critical value of line tension needed to rapidly form large rafts is in accord with the experimental estimate from the curvatures of budding domains in giant unilamellar vesicles.

Key Words: cholesterol, lipid microdomains, membrane structure, phase separation, rafts




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Copyright © 2006 by the Biophysical Society.