Encapsulation of solid microspheres by bilayers.

We analyze the problem of a bilayer membrane which is brought is contact with and adheres to a solid spherical particle. The membrane is that of a spherical giant lipid vesicle (∼ 100 µm in size), much larger than the solid particle. We discuss the specific case in which membrane phospholipids adhere to the particle surface in a "head-in" configuration, and take into account the fact that the membrane is made of two elastic surfaces which can slip relative to each other. This leads to non trivial results, such as a membrane topology transition driven by adhesion. We discuss the case of full particle encapsulation and derive criteria for experimental comparison. Finally, we briefly discuss experimental results obtained with charged polystyrene latex spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]