Phospholipid/alkanethiol bilayers for cell-surface receptor studies by surface plasmon resonance

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Surface Chemistry
• Biomolecular Interaction Analysis

Background:

• Supported hybrid bilayer membranes (HBMs) are crucial for modeling biological membranes.
• Traditional methods using dextran polymers on sensor chips can lead to ambiguous binding data.
• A well-defined surface is needed for accurate studies of membrane interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate HBMs as a model system for studying receptor-ligand and cell-cell binding events.
• To assess the stability and non-specific adsorption blocking capabilities of HBMs in flow.
• To compare HBMs with existing surface modification techniques for biomolecular interaction analysis.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of HBMs on gold-coated glass substrates.
• Utilizing a commercial surface plasmon resonance (SPR) instrument (BIAcore) under continuous flow conditions.
• Performing measurements of specific protein and lipid vesicle binding.

Main Results:

• HBMs demonstrated stability under continuous flow.
• HBMs effectively blocked non-specific protein adsorption to the alkanethiol/gold surface.
• Specific binding of proteins and lipid vesicles to HBMs was successfully measured.

Conclusions:

• HBMs provide a stable and well-defined surface for SPR-based binding studies.
• These membranes offer a superior alternative to dextran-coated surfaces for reducing ambiguity in interaction modeling.
• HBMs facilitate accurate equilibrium and kinetic studies of biological interactions in a membrane environment.