Tension-Induced Morphological Transition in Mixed Lipid Bilayers

TL;DR

This paper explains the morphological transition in mixed lipid bilayers as a result of increased surface tension caused by vesicle adhesion, providing insight into membrane behavior under tension.

Contribution

It offers a new interpretation of lipid bilayer morphology changes, linking them to tension effects rather than solely compositional factors.

Findings

Morphological transition from stripe to hexagonal is driven by surface tension.

Vesicle adhesion increases membrane surface tension.

Surface tension influences lipid bilayer structure and dynamics.

Abstract

Recently, Rozovsky et al. reported on the morphology and dynamics of superstructures in three-component lipid bilayers containing saturated and unsaturated lipids as well as cholesterol [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127, 36 (2005)]. We comment that the observed sequence of the stripe to hexagonal morphological transition in mixed bilayers can be attributed to an enhanced membrane surface tension that is induced by the vesicle adhesion on the solid surface.