Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 8, 2025
Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: October 24, 2017
Fluctuation spectroscopy of giant unilamellar vesicles using confocal and phase contrast microscopy
Hammad A Faizi1, Cody J Reeves2, Vasil N Georgiev3
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA. Petia.Vlahovska@northwestern.edu and Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany. Rumiana.Dimova@mpikg.mpg.de.
Abstract:
A widely used method to measure the bending rigidity of bilayer membranes is fluctuation spectroscopy, which analyses the thermally-driven membrane undulations of giant unilamellar vesicles recorded with either phase-contrast or confocal microscopy. Here, we analyze the fluctuations of the same vesicle using both techniques and obtain consistent values for the bending modulus. We discuss the factors that may lead to discrepancies.
