Fig. 2
From: Repetitive stretching of giant liposomes utilizing the nematic alignment of confined actin
Liposome morphology and arrangement of F-actin inside liposomes. a Spindle-shaped liposomes encapsulating actin observed by phase contrast polarization (direction of a polarizer and an analyzer are indicated) microscopies and fluorescence images for labeled actin and membrane stained. The actin concentration was 84 μM and 10 mol% actin in terms of the monomer was labeled with Alexa 488. This observation was done with S/G. A model of the liposome is also shown. b F-actin solution encapsulated into liposomes (100 μM) as a mixture of F-actin polymerized from fluorescently labeled monomers (50 mol%, with Alexa 488) and non-labeled F-actin with a ratio of 1/5000, in order to visualize the behavior of a single F-actin inside each liposome. Phase contrast image shows the entire shape of a spindle-shaped liposome. Model illustrates the outline of visualization of individual F-actins. The fluorescent images are still images of 1 frame and a superimposition of 440 frames (a period of about 37 s, a rate of 12 frames per second) from the movie of a liposome. All scale bars indicate 20 μm
