Electrostatic adhesion between fluid membranes: phase separation and blistering

Abstract

The electrostatically controlled adhesion of giant vesicles on supported membranes is studied by microinterferometry allowing quantitative evaluation of contact formation and surface profile near the contact area. Under suitable conditions the adhesion induced segregation of charged lipids in one of the membranes of contact zone. This leads to patches of tight contact and decoupled blisters, which are demonstrated for the first time. The stabilization of the pressurized blisters is rationalized in terms of counterion accumulation in the contact area ensuring charge neutrality.

Adhesion-induced lateral phase separation in membranes

“…In a related work, adhesion between cationic vesicles and anionic supported membranes revealed that electrostatic interactions induce lateral charge segregation on the membrane [21,22]. This phase separation leads to patches of tight inter-membrane contact and decoupled "blisters".…”

“…So far, the interplay between lateral phase separation and membrane adhesion has not been considered theoretically in detail except in references [14][15][16]. The work in references [21,22] deals only with the specific case of oppositely charged membranes. In this paper we provide a general phenomenological approach for the adhesion of multi-component membranes.…”

Binding of oppositely charged membranes and membrane reorganization

“…It also has significant biotechnological importance for the study of DNA association with artificial cationic liposomes [4]. In a recent experimental work on two oppositely charged membranes [5], it is found that the membrane, due to its fluidity, adjusts its area per head in response to the electrostatic interaction. Similar conclusion has been reached by Radler et.…”

Adhesion-induced lateral phase separation of multicomponent membranes: The effect of repellers and confinement

“…They serve a number of general functions in our cells and tissues [1,2]. Because of its biological importance, the physics of membrane adhesion has received considerable attention both theoretically and experimentally [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. For instance, helper T cells mediate immune responses by adhering to antigen-presenting cells (APCs) which exhibit foreign peptide fragments on their surface.…”