Sizes of lipid domains:What do we know from artificial lipid membranes?What are the possible shared features withmembrane rafts in cells?

CARLA M. ROSETTI; AGUSTIN MANGIAROTTI; NATALIA WILKE

BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017 vol. 1859 p. 789 - 789

0005-2736

n model lipid membranes with phase coexistence, domain sizes distribute in a very wide range, from the nanometer(reported in vesicles and supported films) to the micrometer (observed in many model membranes). Domaingrowth by coalescence and Ostwald ripening is slow (minutes to hours), the domain size being correlatedwith the size of the capture region. Domain sizes thus strongly depend on the number of domains which, in thecase of a nucleation process, depends on the oversaturation of the system, on line tension and on the perturbationrate in relation to the membrane dynamics. Here, an overview is given of the factors that affect nucleation orspinodal decomposition and domain growth, and their influence on the distribution of domain sizes in differentmodel membranes is discussed. The parameters analyzed respond to very general physical rules, and we thereforepropose a similar behavior for the rafts in the plasma membrane of cells, but with obstructed mobility andwith a continuously ch