FIGURE 7.

Time course of a micromanipulation experiment, in which ordered domains are deformed by the AFM tip. The upper series of panels shows the deformation and relaxation of two domains at intermediate height in a DOPC/cholesterol/SM 1:1:1 sample (0% Cer), followed using fluorescence imaging. The circular shape of the domains is fully recovered in a few minutes. The lower series of panels shows AFM images of the same procedure on the highest domains, in a DOPC/cholesterol/SM/Cer 1:1:0.52:0.48 sample (16% Cer). In this case, after ∼1 h after the deformation, the contour of the domains was still irregular. Measurements were performed at room temperature. Scale bars = 2 μm.