Effect of local thermoplasmonic heating on biological membranes

Optical trapping of plasmonic nanoparticles for controlled nanoscopic damage of cellular plasma membranes can be used to gain deeper insight into the role of plasma membrane repair proteins. Here we present a synthetic platform of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in the vicinity of trapped nanoplasmonic particles as a proposed model assay to characterize the permeability of a damaged GUV membrane, i.e. size of an inflicted hole. Water soluble fluorescent molecules with different sizes are used to characterize the extent of the membrane lesion since their differential permeability will provide information about the size of the rupture. We find that trapped gold nanoparticles can create substantial holes, observed via the discriminating influx of various sized molecules across the membrane. The technique, yet unrefined, provides groundwork for future investigations of annexin repair proteins, using nanoscopic heating of plasmonic particles to create quantifiable membrane damage.