Abstract
Large unilamellar lipid vesicles do not normally fuse under fluid shear stress. They might deform and open pores to relax the tension to which they are exposed, but membrane fusion occurring solely due to shear stress has not yet been reported. We present evidence that shear forces in a viscous solution can induce lipid bilayer fusion. The fusion of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3- phosphocholine (DOPC) liposomes is observed in Couette flow with shear rates above 3000 s-1 provided that the medium is viscous enough. Liposome samples, prepared at different viscosities using a 0-50 wt % range of sucrose concentration, were studied by dynamic light scattering, lipid fusion assays using Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and linear dichroism (LD) spectroscopy. Liposomes in solutions with 40 wt % (or more) sucrose showed lipid fusion under shear forces. These results support the hypothesis that under suitable conditions lipid membranes may fuse in response to mechanical-force- induced stress. © 2014 American Chemical Society.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4875-4878 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Langmuir |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 17 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 23 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUK-11-008-23
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (grant KUK-11-008-23), the European Research Council (EC-2008 AdG 227700-SUMO), and the Swedish Research Council - Linnaeus grant SUPRA 349-2007-8680.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.