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. 2002 Dec;28(4):605–617. doi: 10.1023/A:1021278420558

Controlling and Measuring Local Composition and Properties in Lipid Bilayer Membranes

TG D'Onofrio 1, CW Binns 1, EH Muth 1, CD Keating 1, PS Weiss 1,✉
PMCID: PMC3456460  PMID: 23345801

Abstract

Local composition, structure, morphology, and phase are interrelated in lipid bilayer membranes. This gives us the opportunity to control one or more of these properties by manipulating others. We investigate theserelationships with combinations of simultaneous two-color widefield fluorescence imaging, three-dimensional rendering of vesicle domains, andmanipulation of the vesicle morphology via optical trapping and micropipetteaspiration. We describe methods to modulate, to measure, and to probe thelocal structure of model membranes through control of membrane curvature inliposomes.

Keywords: fluorescence imaging, phase domains, vesicle curvature

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