Figure 2.

Analysis of assembly line vesicle products. (A) Droplets loaded with blue fluorescent dextran macromolecular cargo (DEX, 10 kDa) and fluorescein dye small-molecule cargo (FAM, 332 Da) were formed in the dodecane/1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glyċero-3-phosphatidylcholine oil phase and assembled into vesicles. The resultant vesicles were imaged in bright-field DIC mode (left) and in epifluorescence mode using a fluorescein filter (center) or Cascade Blue filter (right). Scale = 10 μm. (B) Vesicles were treated with S. aureus hemolysin toxin to test vesicular integrity and lamellarity. Vesicles were stable for hours prior to hemolysin treatment. Post treatment, selective membrane permeabilizaton was observed in two-color confocal fluorescence microscopy time courses that demonstrated fluorescein leakage and dextran retention for a 20-μm-diameter vesicle. Scale = 10 μm. (C) Vesicle size and encapsulation yield data plotted for each size of droplet starting material. The vesicle product size was linearly correlated with the droplet precursor size (m = 0.96, R² = 0.993), while the encapsulation yield was independent of the precursor size.