Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 107, Issue 45, Pages 19146-19150Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1010700107
Keywords
complex fluids; biomaterials; soft condensed matter
Categories
Funding
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Office of Naval Research through the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute
- National Science Foundation [1006171, 0742540, 0622620]
- Direct For Education and Human Resources
- Division Of Graduate Education [0742540] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Education and Human Resources
- Division Of Undergraduate Education [0622620] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Materials Research
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1006171] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Lipid bilayers provide the structural framework for cellular membranes, and their character as two-dimensional fluids enables the mobility of membrane macromolecules. Though the existence of membrane fluidity is well established, the nature of this fluidity remains poorly characterized. Three-dimensional fluids as diverse as chocolates and cytoskeletal networks show a rich variety of Newtonian and non-Newtonian dynamics that have been illuminated by contemporary rheological techniques. Applying particle-tracking microrheology to freestanding phospholipid bilayers, we find that the membranes are not simply viscous but rather exhibit viscoelasticity, with an elastic modulus that dominates the response above a characteristic frequency that diverges at the fluid-gel (L(alpha) - L(beta)) phase-transition temperature. These findings fundamentally alter our picture of the nature of lipid bilayers and the mechanics of membrane environments.
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