Fig 1.
Comparison of polymersomes formed by electroformation and gel-assisted rehydration.
(a) Representative epifluorescence photomicrographs depicting PEO-PBD, positively-charged PEO-PBD (NH3+) and negatively-charged PEO-PBD (COO-) polymersomes formation using platinum wire electroformation. (b) Epifluorescence photomicrographs depicting polymersome formation using gel-assisted rehydration after 1 h on an agarose gel at 40°C. Scale bar = 10 μm.
Table 1.
Summary of the different polymers tested, their abbreviations used in the text and the molecular weight (Mw).
Fig 2.
Polymersomes were formed in different buffers and from a variety of polymers following rehydrated with water at 40°C for 1 h on an agarose gel.
(a) Epifluorescence photomicrographs of PEO-PBD polymersomes formed using various different rehydration solutions, or (b) with different polymer compositions (See Table 1 and Table A in S1 File for more details on the different polymers). Scale bars = 10 μm.
Fig 3.
Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) analysis shows that polymersome membranes are fluid.
(a) Epifluorescence imaging of a representative PEO-PBD polymersome pre-, during and post-fluorescence bleaching. The region of the membrane that was bleached is circled. Scale bar = 10 μm. (b) Time-dependent fluorescence recovery profiles for different polymers.
Table 2.
Diffusion coefficients (mean ± standard error) estimated from FRAP data for polymersomes formed from different polymers.
Fig 4.
Dependency of vesicle size on different rehydration temperatures.
PEO-PBD polymersomes were generated in water on 1% agarose gels for 30 min at varying temperatures on a hot plate. (a) Epifluorescence photomicrographs (scale bar = 10 μm), (b) average diameters (± standard error of the mean), and (c) frequency distribution plots for polymersomes formed at different temperatures.
Fig 5.
Effects of membrane fluidization on the formation of polymersomes.
(a) Epifluorescence photomicrographs of PEO-PBD polymersomes formed on either agarose gels in water (left two images) or agarose gels in sucrose (right two images) and rehydrated in either water or sucrose as indicated at the top of the image. Scale bar = 10 μm. (b) Correlation of polymersome size (measured for over 80 polymersomes) and diffusion coefficients (calculated for at least five different polymersomes). X-error bars are standard error of the mean for the polymersome diameters. Y-error bars are standard error of the mean for the diffusion coefficients.