Dynamic Morphologies of Microscale Droplet Interface Bilayers

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Soft Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c3sm53032a· OSTI ID:1132964

Mruetusatorn, Prachya ^[1]; Boreyko, Jonathan B ^[1]; Sarles, Stephen A ^[1]; Venkatesan, Guru ^[2]; Hayes, Douglas G ^[1]; Collier, Pat ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. The University of Tennessee

Droplet interface bilayers (DIBs) are a powerful platform for studying the dynamics of synthetic cellular membranes; however, very little has been done to exploit the unique dynamical features of DIBs. Here, we generate microscale droplet interface bilayers ( DIBs) by bringing together femtoliter-volume water droplets in a microfluidic oil channel, and characterize morphological changes of the DIBs as the droplets shrink due to evaporation. By varying the initial conditions of the system, we identify three distinct classes of dynamic morphology. (1) Buckling and Fission: When forming DIBs using the lipid-out method (lipids in oil phase), lipids in the shrinking monolayers continually pair together and slide into the bilayer to conserve their mass. As the bilayer continues to grow, it becomes confined, buckles, and eventually fissions one or more vesicles. (2) Uniform Shrinking: When using the lipid-in method (lipids in water phase) to form DIBs, lipids uniformly transfer from the monolayers and bilayer into vesicles contained inside the water droplets. (3) Stretching and Unzipping: Finally, when the droplets are pinned to the wall(s) of the microfluidic channel, the droplets become stretched during evaporation, culminating in the unzipping of the bilayer and droplet separation. These findings offer a better understanding of the dynamics of coupled lipid interfaces.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1132964
• Journal Information: Soft Matter, Vol. 10, Issue 15; ISSN 1744--683X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English