Counting and dynamic studies of the small unilamellar phospholipid vesicle translocation with single conical glass nanopores.

Phospholipid vesicles are ubiquitous cellular organelles that perform vital functions including materials transport and information transmission and have found promising biomedical applications. Although the transmembrane translocation (via nanopores) of phospholipid vesicles, especially small unilamellar phospholipid vesicles (SUVs), is recognized to be very important for these processes and applications, the details and dynamics remain not very clear. Herein, we use single conical glass nanopores as a model platform to systematically investigate the translocation dynamics of SUVs (∼50-60 nm in diameter) through small nanopores with orifice diameters ranging from ∼14 to 72 nm. Dynamic translocation of individual SUVs one by one through the nanopores was clearly observed and was analyzed by the occurrence of periodic oscillation in ionic current blockage signal under a negatively applied voltage. Translocation behaviors of the SUVs, in terms of magnitude and duration of ionic current blockage signal, varied and can be modulated by changing nanopore size, solution pH, vesicle concentration, applied voltage, and inner surface charge properties of the nanopores. The translocation rate of the SUVs through an ∼72 nm nanopore is typically on a time scale of a few seconds (per SUV translocation event) and found nonlinearly proportional to the concentration of the SUVs. Moreover, the electrophoretic force has been verified as a main force to drive the SUVs through the nanopore since there is a nearly linear relationship between the current blockage frequency of SUVs translocation and the applied bias potentials ranging from -0.6 to -1 V. The findings provide fundamental insights into the translocation and interactions of SUVs with nanopores, and the reported nanopore platform may find potential useful bioapplications in single-cell and single-vesicle studies.