Papers Published

1. Needham, D. and Nunn, R.S., Elastic deformation and failure of lipid bilayer membranes containing cholesterol, Biophys. J. (USA), vol. 58 no. 4 (1990), pp. 997 - 1009 .
   (last updated on 2007/04/06)

   Abstract:
   Giant bilayer vesicles were reconstituted from several lipids and lipid/cholesterol (CHOL) mixtures: stearoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (SOPC), bovine sphingomyelin (BSM), diarachidonylphosphatidylcholine (DAPC), SOPC/CHOL, BSM/CHOL, DAPC/CHOL, and extracted red blood cell (RBC) lipids with native cholesterol. Single-walled vesicles were manipulated by micropipette suction and several membrane material properties were determined. The properties measured were the elastic area compressibility modulus K, the critical areal strain α_c, and the tensile strength τ_lys, from which the failure energy or membrane toughness T_f was calculated. The elastic area expansion moduli for these lipid and lipid/cholesterol bilayers ranged from 57 dyn/cm for DAPC to 1734 dyn/cm for BSM/CHOL. The SOPC/CHOL series and RBC lipids had intermediate values. The results indicated that the presence of cholesterol is the single most influential factor in increasing bilayer cohesion, but only for lipids where both chains are saturated, or mono- or diunsaturated. Multiple unsaturation in both lipid chains inhibits the condensing effect of cholesterol in bilayers

   Keywords:
   biomechanics;biomembranes;cellular biophysics;lipid bilayers;