Giant Unilamellar Vesicle Electroformation: What to Use, What to Avoid, and How to Quantify the Results

Since its inception more than thirty years ago, electroformation has become the most commonly used method for growing giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). Although the method seems quite straightforward at first, researchers must consider the interplay of a large number of parameters, different lipid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Membranes (Basel) 2021-11, Vol.11 (11), p.860
Main Authors: Boban, Zvonimir, Mardešić, Ivan, Subczynski, Witold Karol, Raguz, Marija
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cholesterol
Crystals
Electric fields
electrical parameters
Electrodes
electroformation
Electroforming
GUVs
lipid composition
lipid deposition
Lipids
Membranes
Microscopy
Parameters
Phase transitions
Physiology
Protocol
Quantitative analysis
Review
Solvents
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Summary:Since its inception more than thirty years ago, electroformation has become the most commonly used method for growing giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). Although the method seems quite straightforward at first, researchers must consider the interplay of a large number of parameters, different lipid compositions, and internal solutions in order to avoid artifactual results or reproducibility problems. These issues motivated us to write a short review of the most recent methodological developments and possible pitfalls. Additionally, since traditional manual analysis can lead to biased results, we have included a discussion on methods for automatic analysis of GUVs. Finally, we discuss possible improvements in the preparation of GUVs containing high cholesterol contents in order to avoid the formation of artifactual cholesterol crystals. We intend this review to be a reference for those trying to decide what parameters to use as well as an overview providing insight into problems not yet addressed or solved.
ISSN:2077-0375
2077-0375
DOI:10.3390/membranes11110860