ABSTRACT
Polymers, also known as macromolecules, are high molecular weight species made by the covalent binding of units called monomers; they are ubiquitous in natural and industrial systems of self-assembled bilayers. In a living cell, macromolecules are by weight the most abundant carbon-containing molecules. In cosmetics, pharmaceutics or detergency most formulations of membrane solutions have polymers added for performance, processing, conditioning or delivery. The presence of polymers in, on, or in the vicinity of a membrane changes not only the structure and viscosity of the liquid media where the membranes evolve: it modifies the properties of the membrane itself and its interactions with the environment. Giant unilamellar vesicles are systems of choice for studying such changes. In this chapter we introduce basic theoretical concepts for understanding, quantifying and predicting membrane transformations induced by the presence of macromolecules.
