Heat-induced formation of single giant unilamellar vesicles

Abstract

Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) are an excellent model system for the investigation of lipid membranes, the study of membrane proteins and ion channels in a biomimetic environment, and in the creation of artificial cells. Here, we describe a novel method for the preparation of GUVs from single multilamellar liposomes by means of directed infrared laser heating. Our method generates individual unilamellar vesicles at selected locations, not only from natural and artificial lipid mixtures containing negatively charged lipids, but also from preparations of single lipids, such as neutral phosphatidylethanolamine. The presented method provides a new efficient resource for giant vesicle research and offers an alternative to the electroformation and de/rehydration techniques.