Home › Cell Biology › Spontaneous Formation and Rearrangement of Artificial Lipid Nanotube Networks as a Bottom-Up Model for Endoplasmic Reticulum
Cell Biology JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Spontaneous Formation and Rearrangement of Artificial Lipid Nanotube Networks as a Bottom-Up Model for Endoplasmic Reticulum

DOI: 10.3791/58923-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Prepare phospholipid vesicle suspensions for membrane experiments
  • ✓ Transform flat lipid bilayers into dynamic nanotube networks
  • ✓ Observe spontaneous lipid membrane rearrangement mimicking ER architecture
Protocol

Solid-supported, protein-free, double phospholipid bilayer membranes (DLBM) can be transformed into complex and dynamic lipid nanotube networks and can serve as 2D bottom-up models of the endoplasmic reticulum.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~4–6 hours per sample (including incubation and imaging)

Steps

1
Prepare phospholipid vesicle suspension

Create phospholipid vesicle suspensions from lipid stock solutions. This suspension serves as the source material for generating double lipid bilayer membranes on solid supports.

▶ 00:54
2
Transform phospholipid films into tubular networks

Apply physicochemical conditions to induce spontaneous transformation of flat, solid-supported phospholipid bilayer membranes into complex, interconnected lipid nanotube networks. Monitor the rearrangement process.

▶ 02:59
3
Visualize ER-like tubular network formation

Image and characterize the resulting lipid nanotube networks using microscopy to confirm structural similarity to endoplasmic reticulum morphology and validate the bottom-up model.

▶ 05:34
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