Facile and Rapid Formation of Giant Vesicles from Glass Beads.

Giant vesicles (GVs) are widely-used model systems for biological membranes. The formulation of these vesicles, however, can be problematic and artifacts, such as degraded molecules or left-over oil, may be present in the final liposomes. The rapid formulation of a high number of artifact-free vesicles of uniform size using standard laboratory equipment is, therefore, highly desirable. Here, the gentle hydration method of glass bead-supported thin lipid films has been enhanced by adding a vortexing step. This led to the formulation of a uniform population of giant vesicles. Batches of glass beads coated with different lipids can be combined to produce vesicles of hybrid lipid compositions. This method represents a stable approach to rapidly generate giant vesicles.