Electro-optics and Electroporation of Synthetic Lipid Vesicles

SCHELLY Z.; ASHGARIAN N.; CORREA N.M.; PEIKOV V.; WU S.; ZENG H.; ZHANG H.

Molecular and Colloidal Electro-optics

CRC Press

Lugar: Boca Raton, FL, USA; Año: 2006; p. 301 - 306

Electro-optical phenomena encompass changes in all possible optical properties of matter which may be caused by the application of an electric field E, including changes in energies of quantum states.  The most commonly studied effects in solutions and suspensions, however, are birefringence, light scattering, and dichroism.  Our particular focus will be on the course of time t dependent changes in birefringence Dn(t) and light scattering DS(t) in aqueous solution of unilamellar bilayer vesicles.  Such studies can provide useful information about morphology, structure, electrical and mechanical properties, and dynamic behavior of the particles involved. As vesicles are deformable by the applied field, the ensuing structural changes can be drastic, which may lead to pore formation in the bilayer (electroporation) and fusion of the vesicles (electrofusion).  Thus, although not directly observable through birefringence and light scattering experiments, the mechanism of electroporation will also be addressed by means of additional trans-membrane transport studies.