Creating Supported Plasma Membrane Bilayers Using Acoustic Pressure
Erdinc Sezgin,
Dario Carugo,
Ilya Levental,
Eleanor Stride,
Christian Eggeling
Affiliations
Erdinc Sezgin
MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
Dario Carugo
Bioengineering Science Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS), University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ Southampton, UK
Ilya Levental
McGovern Medical School, Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Eleanor Stride
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK
Christian Eggeling
MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
Model membrane systems are essential tools for the study of biological processes in a simplified setting to reveal the underlying physicochemical principles. As cell-derived membrane systems, giant plasma membrane vesicles (GPMVs) constitute an intermediate model between live cells and fully artificial structures. Certain applications, however, require planar membrane surfaces. Here, we report a new approach for creating supported plasma membrane bilayers (SPMBs) by bursting cell-derived GPMVs using ultrasound within a microfluidic device. We show that the mobility of outer leaflet molecules is preserved in SPMBs, suggesting that they are accessible on the surface of the bilayers. Such model membrane systems are potentially useful in many applications requiring detailed characterization of plasma membrane dynamics.