Metis, 83 South King Street, Suite 250, Seattle, WA 98104, USA.
Biomater Sci. 2017 Jun 27;5(7):1256-1264. doi: 10.1039/c7bm00227k.
We report on the self-organized formation and dynamics of artificial lipid nanotube networks, which, in terms of morphology and behavior, resemble the endoplasmic reticulum(ER) of biological cells. The networks, initially generated from a solid-supported planar phospholipid membrane, undergo a morphological transformation, triggered by the chelation and removal of Ca from the environment surrounding the membrane. Calcium depletion gradually causes de-pinning, thus de-wetting, at the membrane-substrate interface. We observe dynamic re-arrangements very similar to the ones reported for the cellular ER, such as sliding of tubes and formation of new junctions, and quantify these transformations. We also show occurrences of the dynamic replacement of lipidic particles on nanotubes as indicators for the existence of a tension gradient throughout the network, as well as the spontaneous formation of small vesicles from semi-free floating tubes. We propose that these artificial networks are suitable to serve as a bottom-up-generated structural model for the cellular ER, whose fascinating characteristic morphology is suggested to be tied to its biological function, but with respect to formation, dynamics, and functional details still incompletely understood.
我们报告了人工脂质纳米管网络的自组织形成和动态，就形态和行为而言，它们类似于生物细胞的内质网（ER）。这些网络最初是从固支平面磷脂膜中产生的，通过螯合和去除膜周围环境中的 Ca 触发形态转变。钙的耗尽逐渐导致膜-基底界面处的去钉、去湿。我们观察到与细胞 ER 中报道的非常相似的动态重新排列，例如管的滑动和新连接的形成，并对这些转变进行量化。我们还展示了脂质颗粒在纳米管上的动态替换的发生，作为整个网络中张力梯度存在的指示，以及半游离漂浮管自发形成小泡。我们提出这些人工网络适合作为细胞 ER 的自下而上生成的结构模型，其迷人的特征形态与它的生物学功能有关，但关于其形成、动态和功能细节仍不完全清楚。
