Your browser version may not work well with NCBI's Web applications. More information here...
1: Nano Lett. 2008 Feb;8(2):425-30. Epub 2008 Jan 19.
Related Articles, Links
Click here to read Click here to read
Non-Brownian diffusion of membrane molecules in nanopatterned supported lipid bilayers.

Tsai J, Sun E, Gao Y, Hone JC, Kam LC.

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.

Molecules associated with the outer surface of living cells exhibit complex, non-Brownian patterns of diffusion. In this report, supported lipid bilayers were patterned with nanoscale barriers to capture key aspects of this anomalous diffusion in a controllable format. First, long-range diffusion coefficients of membrane-associated molecules were significantly reduced by the presence of the barriers, while short-range diffusion was unaffected. Second, this modulation was more pronounced for large molecular complexes than for individual lipids. Surprisingly, the quantitative effect of these barriers on long-range lipid diffusion could be accurately simulated using a simple, continuum-based model of diffusion on a nanostructured surface; we thus describe a metamaterial that captures the properties of the outer membrane of living cells.

Publication Types:
PMID: 18205424 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]