Formation and dynamics of supported phospholipid membranes on a periodic nanotextured substrate

James H. Werner, Gabriel A. Montaño, Anthony L. Garcia, Nesia A. Zurek, Elshan A. Akhadov, Gabriel P. Lopez, Andrew P. Shreve

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have studied and modeled the morphology and dynamics of fluid planar lipid bilayer membranes supported on a textured silicon substrate. The substrate is fabricated to have channels on its surface that are a few hundred nanometers across, with a channel depth of a few hundred nanometers perpendicular to the plane of observation. Using atomic force microscopy and quantitative fluorescence microscopy, we have shown that the bilayer assemblies conform to the underlying nanostructured substrate. As far as dynamics is concerned, when observed over length scales exceeding the dimensions of the nanostructured features, the macroscopic diffusion is anisotropic. However, the macroscopic anisotropy is well simulated using models of diffusion on the nanostructured surface that consider the lipids to diffuse homogeneously and isotropically on the supporting substrate. Consistent with previous observations on less well characterized or less periodic nanostructures, we find that the nanostructured substrate produces an effective anisotropy in macroscopic diffusion of the conformal membrane. More importantly, we demonstrate how quantitative analysis of dynamics probed by larger-scale fluorescence imaging can yield information on nanoscale thin-film morphology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2986-2993
Number of pages8
JournalLangmuir
Volume25
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 3 2009
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Spectroscopy
  • Electrochemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Formation and dynamics of supported phospholipid membranes on a periodic nanotextured substrate'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this