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Updated: Mar 21, 2026

Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: October 24, 2017
Brownian Dynamics of Electrostatically Adhering Small Vesicles to a Membrane Surface Induces Domains and Probes
Seyed R Tabaei1,2, Jurriaan J J Gillissen1,2, Min Chul Kim1,2
1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue 639798, Singapore.
Abstract:
Using single-particle tracking, we investigate the interaction of small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) that are electrostatically tethered to the freestanding membrane of a giant unilamellar vesicle (GUV). We find that the surface mobility of the GUV-riding SUVs is Brownian, insensitive to the bulk viscosity, vesicle size, and vesicle fluidity but strongly altered by the viscosity of the underlying membrane. Analyzing the diffusional behavior of SUVs within the Saffman-Delbrück model for the dynamics of membrane inclusions supports the notion that the mobility of the small vesicles is coupled to that of dynamically induced lipid clusters within the target GUV membrane. The reversible binding also offers a nonperturbative means for measuring the viscosity of biomembranes, which is an important parameter in cell physiology and function.
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