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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
10:15
Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging and Force Spectroscopy of Supported Lipid Bilayers
Published on: July 22, 2015
Tension-induced morphological transition in mixed lipid bilayers
S Komura1, N Shimokawa, D Andelman
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan. komura@comp.metro-u.ac.jp
Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids
|July 26, 2006
Summary
This study explains how lipid bilayer morphology transitions from striped to hexagonal phases. Enhanced membrane surface tension from vesicle adhesion to surfaces drives this change.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Materials Science
- Physical Chemistry
Background:
- Lipid bilayers are fundamental to cell membranes.
- Cholesterol plays a crucial role in modulating membrane properties.
- Understanding lipid superstructure formation is key to membrane biophysics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the morphological transitions in three-component lipid bilayers.
- To explain the observed striped-to-hexagonal phase transition.
- To link vesicle adhesion to membrane surface tension and superstructure dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of morphological and dynamic data from three-component lipid bilayers.
- Theoretical explanation of phase transitions based on surface tension.
- Consideration of vesicle adhesion to solid surfaces.
Main Results:
- A sequence of morphological transitions, from striped to hexagonal, was observed.
- Enhanced membrane surface tension was identified as a key factor.
- Vesicle adhesion to a solid surface was proposed as the cause of increased surface tension.
Conclusions:
- The striped-to-hexagonal morphological transition in mixed lipid bilayers is driven by enhanced membrane surface tension.
- Vesicle adhesion to solid surfaces induces this increased surface tension.
- This provides a mechanistic explanation for superstructure dynamics in complex lipid systems.
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