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oai:figshare.com:article/33909229 2026-09-17T19:26:00Z category_1 category_4 category_12 category_13 category_21 category_873 category_46 portal_63 item_type_2 month_year_09_2026

Domain Dissolution in Supported Lipid Bilayers Triggered by Unsaturated Phospholipid Addition Adeyemi T. Odudimu (25047154) Nathan J. Wittenberg (1461022) Biophysics Biochemistry Cell Biology Genetics Biotechnology Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified Immunology using fluorescence microscopy cholera toxin bound including protein sorting work also offers membrane raft ’ since cholesterol stabilizes dissolving lipid rafts work describes redistributing raft protein profiles membrane rafts also known lipid rafts membrane microdomains membrane domain lipid depletion lipid content distinct lipid surrounding environment signal transduction pathogen entry patches composed new method model system localized molecules garnered interest domain dissolution biophysical factors biological processes among others alternative method adding liposomes Significant cellular processes, including protein sorting, signal transduction, and pathogen entry, among others, are associated with membrane microdomains, also known as lipid rafts. Lipid rafts, due to their unique biophysical properties compared to their surrounding environment, which stem from their distinct lipid and protein profiles, have garnered interest in methods and techniques that tune their coexisting liquid-ordered/liquid-disordered state, aiming to disrupt or destabilize them. Since cholesterol stabilizes the membrane domain, cholesterol-depleting compounds like cyclodextrin can be used to destabilize and disrupt the membrane rafts. Overall, given the membrane raft’s importance in biological processes, it is crucial to understand the biophysical factors that influence its stability. In this study, we present a new method for disrupting and dissolving lipid rafts in a model system of phase-separated supported lipid bilayer (SLB) patches composed of DOPC, DPPC, and cholesterol. Using fluorescence microscopy to monitor the liquid-ordered (Lo) and liquid-disordered (Ld) phases of the SLB patches, we observed that adding DOPC liposomes causes a transformation of the coexisting Ld and Lo phases into a single-phase bilayer. On the other hand, adding liposomes that match the lipid content of the phase-separated SLB patch increases the areas of the existing Ld and Lo phases. This work also offers a new method for redistributing raft-localized molecules, confirmed by tracking the redistribution of cholera toxin bound to GM1 after domain dissolution with DOPC liposomes. The work describes an alternative method for dynamically altering membrane composition and dissolving domains via liposome addition, rather than lipid depletion or exchange. 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z Dataset Media 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6c03121.s005 https://figshare.com/articles/media/Domain_Dissolution_in_Supported_Lipid_Bilayers_Triggered_by_Unsaturated_Phospholipid_Addition/33909229 CC BY-NC 4.0