Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1981 Apr;34(1):95-109.
doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(81)84839-4.

Osmotic shrinkage of giant egg-lecithin vesicles

E Boroske, M Elwenspoek, W Helfrich

Osmotic shrinkage of giant egg-lecithin vesicles

E Boroske et al. Biophys J. 1981 Apr.

Abstract

Osmotic shrinkage of giant egg-lecithin vesicles was observed by phase-contrast microscopy. The vesicles remained or became spherical when shrinking. Small and thick-walled vesicles formed visible fingers attached to the sphere. The water permeability of the single bilayer was found to be 41 micrometers/s. A variety of observations indicate that osmosis induces a parallel lipid flow between the monolayers of the bilayer, leading to a strong positive spontaneous curvature. They also suggest the formation of mostly submicroscopic daughter vesicles. The estimated coupling constant, 2 . 10(-6) mol/mol, is large enough to be biologically significant.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. J Mol Biol. 1968 Jan 28;31(2):227-35 - PubMed
    1. J Mol Biol. 1968 Feb 28;32(1):149-50 - PubMed
    1. J Cell Physiol. 1969 Feb;73(1):49-60 - PubMed
    1. Biochemistry. 1969 Jan;8(1):344-52 - PubMed
    1. Biochemistry. 1971 Mar 30;10(7):1111-20 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources