Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 20, 2025

Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: October 24, 2017
Domain dynamics of phase-separated lipid membranes under shear flow
Tsutomu Hamada1, Shino Mizuno1, Hiroyuki Kitahata2
1School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Nomi City, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan. t-hamada@jaist.ac.jp.
Abstract:
The dynamical behaviour of lateral domains on phase-separated lipid vesicles under external flow is reported. A microfluidic chamber was used for the immobilization of vesicles and the application of shear. Microscopic observation revealed that domains tended to be localized at the vortex center and to exhibit a stripe morphology as the flow speed increased. We clarified the dependency of domain behaviors on the flow speed and lipid mixing fraction. The cholesterol ratio in the membrane affected these domain behaviors. Next, we investigated the growth of domains under flow. We discuss the mechanism of these trends by considering the free energy of phase separation, and reproduce the experimental results by numerical simulations. These findings may lead to a better understanding of the dynamical properties of the membrane under nonequilibrium situations and the biophysical mechanism of cellular mechanotransduction.
Related Concept Videos
Asymmetric Lipid Bilayer
Fluid Mosaic Model
Membrane Fluidity

