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Membranes 2011, 1(2), 109-118; doi:10.3390/membranes1020109

Article

Electroformation of Giant Vesicles on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO)-Coated Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) Electrodes

Yukihisa Okumura*  and Yuuichi Iwata

Department of Chemistry and Material Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, 4-17-1 Wakasato, Nagano 380-8553, Japan

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 12 April 2011; in revised form: 17 May 2011 / Accepted: 19 May 2011 / Published: 26 May 2011

Download PDF Full-Text [672 KB, uploaded 26 May 2011 15:07 CEST]

Abstract: Electroformation of cell-sized lipid membrane vesicles (giant vesicles, GVs) from egg yolk phosphatidylcholine was examined using a poly(ethylene terephthalate) sheet coated with indium tin oxide (ITO-PET) as the electrode material. With sinusoidal ac voltage, GV formation occurred in a similar manner to that on an ITO-glass electrode widely used in electroformation. Difference in the specific electrical resistance of ITO-PET did not significantly affect electroformation. The present results indicate that ITO-PET may be used as more flexible and less expensive electrode material in electroformation. In order to obtain insights into electroformation, other electric voltage forms, static dc and dc pulses, were also tested in place of commonly used sinusoidal ac. Under the present conditions, the best GV formation was observed with dc pulses of negative polarity. The result with static dc demonstrated that the mechanical vibration of swelling lipid seen with sinusoidal ac voltage was not essential for GV formation. On the positive electrode, the electroswelling of lipid mainly yielded non-spherical membranous objects. Pre-application of positive dc voltage on lipid hindered GV formation in electroswelling of the lipid with ac.

Keywords: electroformation; electroswelling; giant vesicles; giant liposomes; lipid membrane

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