Issue 22, 2012
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Lipid membrane deformation in response to a local pH modification: theory and experiments

Anne-Florence Bitbol,a   Nicolas Puff,ab   Yuka Sakuma,†c   Masayuki Imai,†c   Jean-Baptiste Fourniera  and  Miglena I. Angelova*ab  

* Corresponding authors

a Université Paris Diderot, Paris 7, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes (MSC), CNRS UMR 7057, Bâtiment Condorcet, Case courrier 7056, F-75205 Paris Cedex 13, France
E-mail: miglena.anguelova@upmc.fr

b Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris 6, Physics Department – UFR 925, Paris, France

c Department of Physics, Ochanomizu University, Bunkyo, Japan

Abstract

We study the deformation of a lipid membrane in response to a local pH modification. Experimentally, a basic solution is microinjected close to a giant unilamellar vesicle. A local deformation appears in the zone of the membrane that is closest to the micropipette, and relaxes when the injection is stopped. A theoretical description of this phenomenon is provided. It fully takes into account the spatiotemporal evolution of the concentration of hydroxide ions during and after the microinjection, as well as the linear dynamics of the membrane. This description applies to a local injection of any substance that reacts reversibly with the membrane lipids. We compare experimental data obtained in the domain of small deformations to the results of our linear description, and we obtain a good agreement between theory and experiments. In addition, we present direct experimental observations of the pH profile on the membrane during and after the microinjection, using pH-sensitive fluorescent lipids.

Graphical abstract: Lipid membrane deformation in response to a local pH modification: theory and experiments

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2SM25519G
Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Mar 2012
Accepted
13 Apr 2012
First published
30 Apr 2012

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 6073-6082

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Lipid membrane deformation in response to a local pH modification: theory and experiments

A. Bitbol, N. Puff, Y. Sakuma, M. Imai, J. Fournier and M. I. Angelova, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 6073 DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25519G

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