Quantification of the Layer of Hydration of a Supported Lipid Bilayer by Dual polarization interferometry (DPI) (CAT#: STEM-MB-0420-WXH)

Introduction

Lipid membranes are essential for cellular function, acting both as a selective barrier between the cell interior and its environment and as an interface for cell signaling responses and cell communication. Creating model membranes allow for the complexities of membranes to be characterized in hopes of furthering the understanding of lipid membrane function and physiology. One such complex feature, the cellular hydration state, is dynamic in vivo and changes within minutes under the influence of aniso-osmolarity, hormones, nutrients, and oxidative stress. Volume regulatory mechanisms act as dampeners in order to prevent excessive deviations in hydration that may be harmful to the cell. Small fluctuations of cell hydration can also act as signals for cellular metabolism and gene expression. Therefore, it is important to be able to characterize the layer of hydration at the lipid-substrate interface, which represents the cellular hydration in biomimetic systems, in order to more accurately mimic biological membranes.