A Detergent Depletion Technique for the Preparation of Small Vesicles

Abstract

A simple method for the preparation of small phospholipid vesicles is presented. This method utilizes the rapid dilution of octyl glucoside-egg lecithin mixed micelles to a final detergent concentration below the critical micelle concentration, at which the bilayer state is favored. Electron microscopic and gel filtration chromatographic analysis of the resulting vesicle preparations show that the rapid dilution technique results in a uniform population of vesicles with a mean diameter of 20–28 nm. This result supports the hypothesis that vesicle formation occurs through the fusion of discoidal mixed micelles, the geometry of which is determined by the phospholipid and detergent content.