Giant liposomes — through the entrapment of enzymes, ribosomes, DNA, and cytoskeletal components — are useful <i>in vitro</i> models for cells.  Giant liposomes are also accessible structures to study biophysical processes, such as in-plane phase segregation of lipid molecules and membrane proteins, the budding of membranes, and the transport of molecules across membranes. Here we report a facile and scalable method to fabricate biomimetic giant liposomes by using a cellulose paper-based platform.  Termed PAPYRUS for Paper-Abetted liPid hYdRation in aqUeous Solutions, the method is general and can produce liposomes in various aqueous media and at elevated temperatures. Liposomes produced through PAPYRUS are free of residual solvents and are not exposed to electric fields during the growth process. Due to cellulose’s poor solubility in aqueous solvents, even at elevated temperatures, giant liposomes with binary and ternary lipid mixtures with high transitions temperatures can be formed with high yield. Furthermore, the porosity of paper allows gentle fluid flow normal to the paper, i.e. such as flow provided by hydrostatic pressure, to free giant liposomes into the bulk for further manipulation. Fluorescent labeling and analysis of the cellulose fibers demonstrated, as expected, no contamination of the giant liposomes mixture with soluble cellulose.  We find that giant liposomes can be formed in various aqueous media such as ultrapure water, physiologically relevant ionic buffers such as phosphate buffered saline, Tris buffered saline, and in sugar solutions such as sucrose. Giant liposomes with appropriate binary and ternary lipid compositions demonstrate the expected phase behavior when quenched to temperatures that favor phase-coexistence. The ease of manipulation of paper makes practical massive parallelization and scale-up of the fabrication of giant liposomes, demonstrating for the first time the surprising usefulness of paper as a platform for macromolecular self-assembly.<br/>

Novel application of cellulose paper as a platform for fabricating giant liposomes

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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