TY - JOUR
T1 - Balancing Permeability and Stability
T2 - A Study of Hybrid Membranes for Synthetic Cells Using Lipids and PBd-b-PEO Block Copolymers
AU - Presutti, Caterina
AU - Vreeker, Edo
AU - Sasidharan, Sajitha
AU - Ferdinando, Zanetta
AU - Stuart, Marc
AU - Juhaniewicz-Dębińska, Joanna
AU - Maglia, Giovanni
AU - Roos, Wouter H
AU - Poolman, Bert
PY - 2025/4/8
Y1 - 2025/4/8
N2 - We have synthesized hybrid membranes composed of amphiphilic block copolymers, polybutadiene-poly(ethylene oxide) [PBd-
b-PEO], with different lengths [PBd
22-PEO
14 and PBd
11-PEO
8] and mixtures of phospholipids (DOPC:DOPG:DOPE 50:25:25 mol %) to combine the properties of both in terms of stability and fluidity of the membrane. The amphiphilic block copolymers increase the stability, whereas the lipids support the functionality of membrane proteins. The hybrid nature of the bilayers was studied by means of Cryo-TEM, Langmuir-Blodgett technique, atomic force microscopy (AFM), electrical measurements, and fluorescence-based stopped-flow assay to determine the permeability of the membrane for water and osmolytes. We observe that the structural, thermodynamic, and permeability properties of hybrid PBd
11-PEO
8 membranes are similar to their purely lipid counterparts, with the advantage of being more stable and resisting a higher transmembrane electrical potential. Hybrid membranes with the longer polymer, PBd
22-PEO
14, display more significant structural, thermodynamic, and permeability differences and show less favorable properties than hybrid-PBd
11-PEO
8 membranes.
AB - We have synthesized hybrid membranes composed of amphiphilic block copolymers, polybutadiene-poly(ethylene oxide) [PBd-
b-PEO], with different lengths [PBd
22-PEO
14 and PBd
11-PEO
8] and mixtures of phospholipids (DOPC:DOPG:DOPE 50:25:25 mol %) to combine the properties of both in terms of stability and fluidity of the membrane. The amphiphilic block copolymers increase the stability, whereas the lipids support the functionality of membrane proteins. The hybrid nature of the bilayers was studied by means of Cryo-TEM, Langmuir-Blodgett technique, atomic force microscopy (AFM), electrical measurements, and fluorescence-based stopped-flow assay to determine the permeability of the membrane for water and osmolytes. We observe that the structural, thermodynamic, and permeability properties of hybrid PBd
11-PEO
8 membranes are similar to their purely lipid counterparts, with the advantage of being more stable and resisting a higher transmembrane electrical potential. Hybrid membranes with the longer polymer, PBd
22-PEO
14, display more significant structural, thermodynamic, and permeability differences and show less favorable properties than hybrid-PBd
11-PEO
8 membranes.
U2 - 10.1021/acs.biomac.4c01651
DO - 10.1021/acs.biomac.4c01651
M3 - Article
C2 - 40197008
SN - 1525-7797
JO - Biomacromolecules
JF - Biomacromolecules
M1 - 4c01651
ER -