Critical point fluctuations in supported lipid membranes

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate that it is possible to observe many aspects of critical phenomena in supported lipid bilayers using atomic force microscopy (AFM) with the aid of stable and precise temperature control. The regions of criticality were determined by accurately measuring and calculating phase diagrams for the 2 phase L_d–L_o region, and tracking how it moves with temperature, then increasing the sampling density around the estimated critical regions. Compositional fluctuations were observed above the critical temperature (T_c) and characterised using a spatial correlation function. From this analysis, the phase transition was found to be most closely described by the 2D Ising model, showing it is a critical transition. Below T_c roughening of the domain boundaries occurred due to the reduction in line tension close to the critical point. Smaller scale density fluctuations were also detected just below T_c. At T_c, we believe we have observed fluctuations on length scales greater than 10 μm. The region of critically fluctuating 10–100 nm nanodomains has been found to extend a considerable distance above T_c to temperatures within the biological range, and seem to be an ideal candidate for the actual structure of lipid rafts in cell membranes. Although evidence for this idea has recently emerged, this is the first direct evidence for nanoscale domains in the critical region.