Liposomes: Methods and Protocols, Volume 2: Biological Membrane Models

Efforts to describe and model the molecular structure of biological membranes go back to the beginning of the last century. In 1917, Langmuir described membranes as a layer of lipids one molecule thick [1]. Eight years later, Gorter and Grendel concluded from their studies that “the phospholipid molecules that formed the cell membrane were arranged in two layers to form a lipid bilayer” [2]. Danielli and Robertson proposed, in 1935, a model in which the bilayer of lipids is sequestered between two monolayers of unfolded proteins [3], and the currently still accepted fuid mosaic model was proposed by Singer and Nicolson in 1972 [4]. Among those landmarks of biomembrane history, a serendipitous observation made by Alex Bangham during the early 1960s deserves undoubtedly a special place. His fnding that exposure of dry phospholipids to an excess of water gives rise to lamellar structures [5] has opened versatile experimental access to studying the biophysics and biochemistry of biological phospholipid membranes. Although during the following 4 decades biological membrane models have grown in complexity and functionality [6], liposomes are, besides supported bilayers, membrane nanodiscs, and hybrid membranes, still an indisputably important tool for membrane b- physicists and biochemists. In vol. II of this book, the reader will fnd detailed methods for the use of liposomes in studying a variety of biochemical and biophysical membrane phenomena concomitant with chapters describing a great palette of state-of-the-art analytical technologies.

With nearly one hundred years of intensive study, lipids have proven to be a vital and ever-more-promising area of cell biological research. In Liposomes: Methods and Protocols, leading experts in the related fields explore cutting-edge experimental methods involving all aspects of lipids as essential components of the cell membrane. Volume 2: Biological Membrane Models focuses on detailed methods for the use of liposomes in studying a variety of biochemical and biophysical membrane phenomena concomitant with chapters describing a great palette of state-of-the-art analytical technologies. As a volume in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology™ series, the chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Comprehensive and authoritative, Liposomes: Methods and Protocols promises to be an essential source of practical know-how for every investigator, young and seasoned alike, whose research area involves in one way or another phospholipids, glycolipids, or cholesterol.