Phospholipid vesicle formation and transmembrane protein incorporation using octyl glucoside

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Abstract
Removal of detergent from mixed micelles of [hen] egg yolk phosphatidylcholine and octyl glucoside leads to formation of unilamellar phospholipid vesicles with a diameter of about 230 nm. The same procedure applied to mixed micelles containing the [human erythrocyte] transmembrane protein glycophorin A, in addition to lipid and detergent, produces vesicles of the same size with glycophorin incorporated into the bilayer. The pure lipid vesicles are highly impermeable to both anions and cations, and incorporation of up to 220 molecules of glycophorin/vesicle has little effect on permeability.