Dataset Information

Hydrogel-stabilized droplet bilayers for high speed solution exchange.

ABSTRACT: Many applications utilizing artificial lipid bilayers require the ability to exchange the bilayer's solution environment. However, because of the instability of the bilayer, the rate of solution exchange is limited, which significantly hinders the measurement rate and throughput. We have developed an artificial bilayer system that can withstand high flow speeds, up to 2.1 m/s, by supporting the bilayer with a hydrogel. We demonstrated the ability to measure during flow by measuring the conductance of gramicidin-A channels while switching between solutions of two different compositions, recording a time to measure 90% change in current of approximately 2.7 seconds at a flow rate of 0.1 m/s. We also demonstrated a potential application of this system by measuring the conductance modulation of the rat TRPM8 ion channel by an agonist and antagonist at varying concentrations, obtaining 7-point IC50 and EC50 values in approximately 7 minutes and 4-point values within 4 minutes.

SUBMITTER: Acharya SA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3817439 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Hydrogel-stabilized droplet bilayers for high speed solution exchange.

Acharya Shiv A SA Portman Alexander A Salazar Carl S CS Schmidt Jacob J JJ

Scientific reports 20131105

Many applications utilizing artificial lipid bilayers require the ability to exchange the bilayer's solution environment. However, because of the instability of the bilayer, the rate of solution exchange is limited, which significantly hinders the measurement rate and throughput. We have developed an artificial bilayer system that can withstand high flow speeds, up to 2.1 m/s, by supporting the bilayer with a hydrogel. We demonstrated the ability to measure during flow by measuring the conductan ...[more]

PMID: 24190577

Similar Datasets

Project description:Silkworm silk has been widely used as a textile fiber, as biomaterials and in optically functional materials due to its extraordinary properties. The ?-sheet-rich natural nanofiber units of about 10-50 nm in diameter are often considered the origin of these properties, yet it remains unclear how silk self-assembles into these hierarchical structures. A new system composed of ?-sheet-rich silk nanofibers about 10-20 nm in diameter is reported here, where these nanofibers formed into "flowing hydrogels" at 0.5-2% solutions and could be transformed back into the solution state at lower concentrations, even with a high ?-sheet content. This is in contrast with other silk processed materials, where significant ?-sheet content negates reversibility between solution and solid states. These fibers are formed by regulating the self-assembly process of silk in aqueous solution, which changes the distribution of negative charges while still supporting ?-sheet formation in the structures. Mechanistically, there appears to be a shift toward negative charges along the outside of the silk nanofibers in our present study, resulting in a higher zeta potential (above -50 mV) than previous silk materials which tend to be below -30 mV. The higher negative charge on silk nanofibers resulted in electrostatic repulsion strong enough to negate further assembly of the nanofibers. Changing silk concentration changed the balance between hydrophobic interactions and electrostatic repulsion of ?-sheet-rich silk nanofibers, resulting in reversible hydrogel-solution transitions. Furthermore, the silk nanofibers could be disassembled into shorter fibers and even nanoparticles upon ultrasonic treatment following the transition from hydrogel to solution due to the increased dispersion of hydrophobic smaller particles, without the loss of ?-sheet content, and with retention of the ability to transition between hydrogel and solution states through reversion to longer nanofibers during self-assembly. These reversible solution-hydrogel transitions were tunable with ultrasonic intensity, time, or temperature.

Dataset Information

Hydrogel-stabilized droplet bilayers for high speed solution exchange.

Publications

Hydrogel-stabilized droplet bilayers for high speed solution exchange.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure