Wetting of Membranes and Vesicles

    Aqueous solutions containing several species of water-soluble polymers such as dextran and polyethylen glycol (PEG) undergo phase separation as soon as the polymer concentrations exceed a few weight percent. Membranes and vesicles suspended in such a solution are then exposed to different aqueous phases. Since these phases differ in their molecular composition, they experience different molecular interactions with the membranes and, thus, differ in their ability to wet the membranes. The associated wetting behavior can be characterized by an intrinsic contact angle [1], which represents a material parameter and can be calculated from the effective contact angles as measured by optical microscopy.

    Complete wetting of the membrane by one of the aqueous phases is characterized by vanishing contact angle. As one changes the polymer concentration, the system may undergo a complete-to-partial wetting transition [2], at which the intrinsic contact angle attains a nonvanishing value. In addition, deflation-induced phase separation within vesicles leads to the formation of a large number of membrane nanotubes [3], which reveal a negative spontaneous curvature of the membranes.


  • R. Lipowsky
    Spontaneous tubulation of membranes and vesicles reveals membrane tension generated by spontaneous curvature.
    Spontaneous tubulation of membranes and vesicles ... - Corrections.
    Spontaneous tubulation of membranes and vesicles... - Supporting Information.
    Faraday Discuss. 161, 305-331 (2013).

  • R. Dimova and R. Lipowsky
    Lipid membranes in contact with aqueous phases of polymer solutions.
     Soft Matter 8, 6409-6416 (2012)

  • Yonggang Liu, R. Lipowsky, and R. Dimova
    Concentration dependence of the interfacial tension for aqueous two-phase polymer solutions of dextran and polyethylene glycol.
     Langmuir 28, 3831-3839 (2012).

  • Yanhong Li, H. Kusumaatmaja, R. Lipowsky, and R. Dimova
    Wetting-induced budding of vesicles in contact with several aqueous phases.
     J. Phys. Chem. B 116, 1819-1823 (2012).

  • H. Kusumaatmaja and R. Lipowsky
    Droplet-induced budding transitions of membranes.
     Soft Matter 7, 6914-6919 (2011).

  • Yanhong Li, R. Lipowsky, and R. Dimova
    Membrane nanotubes induced by aqueous phase separation and stabilized by spontaneous curvature.
     Membrane nanotubes induced by aqueous phase separation ... - Supporting Information.
     PNAS 108, 4731-4736 (2011).

  • H. Kusumaatmaja, Yanhong Li, R. Dimova, and R. Lipowsky
    Intrinsic contact angle of aqueous phases at membranes and vesicles.
     Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 238103 (2009)

  • Yanhong Li, R. Lipowsky, and R. Dimova
    Transition from complete to partial wetting within membrane compartments.
     Transition from complete to partial wetting ... - Supporting Information.
     JACS 130, 12252-12253 (2008).