Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T15:45:42.137Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Deposition of Lipid Bilayers with Atomic Force Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 December 2005

G. D. Tavares
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
M. C. de Oliveira
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
J. M. C. Vilela
Affiliation:
CETEC, Brazil
M. S. Andrade
Affiliation:
CETEC, Brazil
Get access

Extract

Biological membranes are constituted of lipids organized as a two dimensional bilayer supporting peripheral and integral proteins, providing a barrier between the inside and the outside of a cell [1]. Similar membranes can be prepared from the lipid mixtures forming liposomes. The liposomes are multi or unilamellar spherical vesicles in which an aqueous volume is enclosed and can be used to encapsulate some drugs [2]. In order to better expose the details of their structure, these membranes are generally deposited on the surface of a flat substrate. These supported planar lipid membranes can also provide a model system for investigating the properties and functions of the complex cell membrane and membrane mediated processes such as recognition events and biological signal transduction. Various methods have been used to create artificial lipid membranes supported on a solid surface, being the most used the Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers formation [3], the vesicle fusion or liposome adsorption [4] and the solution spreading [5].

Type
Other
Copyright
© 2005 Microscopy Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)