Bilayer curvature and certain amphipaths promote poly(ethylene glycol)-induced fusion of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine unilamellar vesicles.

Unilamellar vesicles of varying and reasonably uniform size were prepared from 1,2-dipalmitoyl-3-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) by the extrusion procedure and sonication. Quasi-elastic light scattering was used to show that different vesicle preparations had mean (Z-averaged) diameters of 1340, 900, 770, 630, and 358 A (sonicated). Bilayer-phase behavior as detected by differential scanning calorimetry was consistent with the existence of essentially uniform vesicle populations of different sizes. The response of these different vesicles to treatment with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was monitored using fluorescence assays for lipid transfer, contents leakage, and contents mixing, as well as quasi-elastic light scattering. No fusion, as judged by vesicle contents mixing and change in vesicle size, was detected for vesicles of diameter greater than 770 A. The diameters of smaller vesicles increased dramatically when treated with high concentrations of PEG, although mixing of their contents could not be detected both because of their small trapped volumes and because of the extensive leakage induced in small vesicles by high concentrations of PEG. Lipid transfer was detected between vesicles of all sizes. We conclude the high bilayer curvature does encourage fusion of closely juxtaposed membrane bilayers but that highly curved vesicles appear also to rupture and form larger structures when diluted from high PEG concentration, a process that can be confused with fusion. Despite the failure of PEG to induce fusion of large, uncurved vesicles composed of a single phosphatidylcholine, these vesicles can be induced to fuse when they contain small amounts of certain amphiphathic compounds thought to play a role in cellular fusion processes. Thus, vesicles which contained 0.5 mol % L-alpha-lysopalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, 5 mol % platelet activating factor, or 0.5 mol % palmitic acid fused in the presence of 30%, 25%, and 20% (w/w) PEG, respectively. However, vesicles containing 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerol, 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycerol, 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycerol, or monooleoyl-rac-glycerol at surface concentrations up to 5 mol % did not fuse in the presence or absence of PEG. There was no correlation between the abilities of these amphipaths to induce phase separation or nonlamellar phases and their abilities to support fusion of pure DPPC unilamellar vesicles in the presence of high concentrations of PEG. The results are discussed in terms of the type of disrupted lipid packing that could be expected to favor PEG-mediated fusion.