Morphology transformations of DODAB vesicles reminiscent of endocytosis and vesicular traffic

Mimicking the complex morphological transformations of living cells is an a rea of ongoing interest to membrane scientists. To this end, liposomes and surfactant vesicles are often regarded as adequate membrane models. Here, w e report the morphological transformations reminiscent of endocytosis and v esicular transport for a very basic model system. It is demonstrated that s tructural conversions of vesicles composed of dioctadecyldimethylammonium s alts are triggered by the presence of the cationic initiator V50. On the ba sis of experimental data (cryo transmission electron microscopy, dynamic li ght scattering, and turbidity measurements) and theoretical considerations, we propose and discuss a phenomenological model that accounts for these ob servations. It is shown that even simple triggers can give rise to interest ing and complex morphological transformations. Finally, polymerizations of styrene in these model vesicle systems are performed, and it appears that t he vesicle transformations have a pronounced effect on the final vesicle-po lymer morphology.