Optical trapping of plasmonic nanoparticles for controlled nanoscopic damage of cellular plasma membranes canbe used to gain deeper insight into the role of plasma membrane repair proteins. Here we present a syntheticplatform of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in the vicinity of trapped nanoplasmonic particles as a proposedmodel assay to characterize the permeability of a damaged GUV membrane, i.e. size of an inicted hole. Watersoluble uorescent molecules with dierent sizes are used to characterize the extent of the membrane lesion sincetheir dierential permeability will provide information about the size of the rupture. We nd that trapped goldnanoparticles can create substantial holes, observed via the discriminating inux of various sized molecules acrossthe membrane. The technique, yet unrened, provides groundwork for future investigations of annexin repairproteins, using nanoscopic heating of plasmonic particles to create quantiable membrane damage.
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