Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) are cell-sized lipid compartments that are of immense interest due to their resemblance to minimal biological cells. Current solvent-free methods used to grow GUVs such as electroformation, gel-assisted hydration, or paper-abetted hydration in aqueous solutions (PAPYRUS), appear to efficiently convert lamellar stacks of phospholipids into vesicular compartments in low ionic strength aqueous solutions. Harvesting high yields of GUVs in high ionic strength solutions that mimic the biological milieu however is still challenging. Using the fractional yield — the molar amount of lipids harvested as GUVs divided by the molar amount of lipids initially deposited on the substrate — as a metric, we show that this reduction in yield can be measured quantitatively for the various solvent-free methods. Further, we show that the PAPYRUS technique produces quantitatively higher fractional yields of GUVs compared to extant techniques when the ionic strength of the solution is increased in two-steps. The two-step PAPYRUS technique circumvents the need for osmotic gradients to drive the growth of GUVs in high salt solutions. We also show that PEG-lipids do not promote the formation of GUVs through increased hydration repulsion. PEG modified lipids increase fractional yields of isolated GUVs by preventing flocculation of GUVs in high salt solutions.

Highly efficient growth of giant unilamellar vesicles in high salt solutions using nanocellulose paper

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.