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Individual phospholipid vesicles, 1 to 5 micrometers in diameter, containing a single reagent or a complete reaction system, were immobilized with an infrared laser optical trap or by adhesion to modified borosilicate glass surfaces. Chemical transformations were initiated either by electroporation or by electrofusion, in each case through application of a short (10-microsecond), intense (20 to 50 kilovolts per centimeter) electric pulse delivered across ultramicroelectrodes. Product formation was monitored by far-field laser fluorescence microscopy. The ultrasmall characteristic of this reaction volume led to rapid diffusional mixing that permits the study of fast chemical kinetics. This technique is also well suited for the study of reaction dynamics of biological molecules within lipid-enclosed nanoenvironments that mimic cell membranes.

A combined electroporation and pressure-driven microinjection method for efficient loading of biopolymers and colloidal particles into single-cell-sized unilamellar liposomes was developed. Single liposomes were positioned between a approximately 2-microm tip diameter solute-filled glass micropipet, equipped with a Pt electrode, and a 5-microm-diameter carbon fiber electrode. A transient, 1-10 ms, rectangular waveform dc voltage pulse (10-40 V/cm) was applied between the electrodes, thus focusing the electric field over the liposome. Dielectric membrane breakdown induced by the applied voltage pulse caused the micropipet tip to enter the liposome and a small volume (typically 50-500 x 10(-15) L) of fluorescein, YOYO-intercalated T7-phage DNA, 100-nm-diameter unilamellar liposomes, or fluorescent latex spheres could be injected into the intraliposomal compartment. We also demonstrate initiation of a chemical intercalation reaction between T2-phage DNA and YOYO-1 by dual injection into a single giant unilamellar liposome. The method was also successfully applied for loading of single cultured cells.

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