We present what is, to our knowledge, the first experimental demonstration of dielectric constant measurement and quantification of supported lipid bilayers in electrolyte solutions with nanoscale spatial resolution. The dielectric constant was quantitatively reconstructed with finite element calculations by combining thickness information and local polarization forces which were measured using an electrostatic force microscope adapted to work in a liquid environment. Measurements of submicrometric dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine lipid bilayer patches gave dielectric constants of ε(r) ~ 3, which are higher than the values typically reported for the hydrophobic part of lipid membranes (ε(r) ~ 2) and suggest a large contribution of the polar headgroup region to the dielectric response of the lipid bilayer. This work opens apparently new possibilities in the study of biomembrane electrostatics and other bioelectric phenomena.

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We measured and quantified the local electric polarization properties of ultrathin (∼5 nm) biolayers on mm-thick mica substrates. We achieved it by scanning a sharp conductive tip (<10 nm radius) of an electrostatic force microscope over the biolayers and quantifying sub-picoNewton electric polarization forces with a sharp-tip model implemented using finite-element numerical calculations. We obtained relative dielectric constants εr = 3.3, 2.4 and 1.9 for bacteriorhodopsin, dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and cholesterol layers, chosen as representative of the main cell membrane components, with an error below 10% and a spatial resolution down to ∼50 nm. The ability of using insulating substrates common in biophysics research, such as mica or glass, instead of metallic substrates, offers both a general platform to determine the dielectric properties of biolayers and a wider compatibility with other characterization techniques, such as optical microscopy. This opens up new possibilities for biolayer research at the nanoscale, including nanoscale label-free composition mapping.

Cell lipid membranes are the site of vital biological processes, such as motility, trafficking, and sensing, many of which involve mechanical forces. Elucidating the interplay between such bioprocesses and mechanical forces requires the use of tools that apply and measure piconewton-level forces, e.g., optical tweezers. Here, we introduce the combination of optical tweezers with free-standing lipid bilayers, which are fully accessible on both sides of the membrane. In the vicinity of the lipid bilayer, optical trapping would normally be impossible due to optical distortions caused by pockets of the solvent trapped within the membrane. We solve this by drastically reducing the size of these pockets via tuning of the solvent and flow cell material. In the resulting flow cells, lipid nanotubes are straightforwardly pushed or pulled and reach lengths above half a millimeter. Moreover, the controlled pushing of a lipid nanotube with an optically trapped bead provides an accurate and direct measurement of important mechanical properties. In particular, we measure the membrane tension of a free-standing membrane composed of a mixture of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) to be 4.6 × 10–6 N/m. We demonstrate the potential of the platform for biophysical studies by inserting the cell-penetrating trans-activator of transcription (TAT) peptide in the lipid membrane. The interactions between the TAT peptide and the membrane are found to decrease the value of the membrane tension to 2.1 × 10–6 N/m. This method is also fully compatible with electrophysiological measurements and presents new possibilities for the study of membrane mechanics and the creation of artificial lipid tube networks of great importance in intra- and intercellular communication.