Abstract
A novel experimental technique, based on atomic force microscopy (AFM), is proposed to visualize the lateral organization of membrane systems in the nanometer range. The technique involves the use of a ligand-receptor pair, biotin-avidin, which introduces a height variation on a solid-supported lipid bilayer membrane. This leads to a height amplification of the lateral membrane organization that is large enough to be clearly imaged by scanning AFM. The power of the technique is demonstrated for a binary dipalmitoylphosphocholine-diarachidoylphosphocholine lipid mixture which is shown to exhibit a distinct lateral lipid domain formation. The new and simple ligand-receptor-based AFM approach opens up new ways to investigate lipid membrane microstructure in the nanometer range as well as the lateral distribution of ligand-lipid and receptor-protein complexes in supported membrane systems.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | FEBS Letters |
| Volume | 515 |
| Issue number | 1-3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 29-34 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISSN | 0014-5793 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 27 Mar 2002 |
Keywords
- Atomic force microscopy
- Avidin
- Biotin
- Langmuir-Blodgett film
- Lipid bilayer membrane
- Lipid domain
- Lipid membrane heterogeneity
- Lipid mixture
- Phosphatidylcholine