Supported membranes with well-defined polymer tethers--incorporation of cell receptors

We report the design of supported lipid membranes attached to the surface by tailored lipopolymer tethers. A series of well-defined lipopolymers were synthesized by means of living cationic polymerization of 2-methyl-2-oxazolines. The polymers were equipped with a silane coupling group on the proximal, and lipid anchors on the distal chain ends. The length of the intermediate hydrophilic polymer tether was varied (n = 14, 18, 33) to change the distance between the membrane and the substrate. Supported membranes have been prepared in two-steps. First, a suitable lipopolymer/lipid mixture was deposited by Langmuir-Blodgett transfer, and annealed to establish the covalent coupling to the surface. On the dry lipopolymer/lipid monolayer, the upper leaflet was deposited by vesicle fusion. Optimization of both preparation steps resulted in the formation of stable and defect-free membranes. Impacts of the spacer length and the lipopolymer fraction upon the lateral diffusivity of the lipids were systematically compared by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). First experiments on the incorporation of a large transmembrane cell receptor (integrin alpha IIb beta 2) into the polymer-tethered membrane suggested that the length of the polymer tether plays a crucial role in distribution of the proteins on the surface.