The curvature of the cell membrane is thought to play an important role in spatial sorting of lipids, and modulating the function of membrane-bound proteins. We investigate the effect of the curvature using a model lipid membrane containing a ternary lipid mixture of two phospholipids and cholesterol. The biomembrane is spin-coated onto a homogeneous Poly(methyl-methacrylate) support with curved array features. We systematically vary the curvature by decreasing the radius of the features from 5�m � 100nm, and the distance in between. We find that this nanofabricated support promotes a curvature controlled sorting of the lipid phases with a clearly distinct pattern formation. It is shown how the lipid phases balance the line energy over the bending energy in a percolated system and also, the curvature preference of a certain phase when changes in the geometry of the arrays are introduced. This homogeneous surface allows examination of large-scale demixing which resembles to the scale of demixing of the plasma membrane.

Membrane phase behavior in lipid curvature sorting

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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