ABSTRACT
Current attempts to mimic the structure and functions ofbiomembranes can be traced back to 1964, when Bangham and Horne (1) demonstrated that the bilayer structure is formed spontaneously from aqueous dispersions of egg yolk lecithin. It was shown by this finding that, among the constituents of biomembranes, the lipid component by itself could readily produce cell-like organization upon simple dispersion in water. Their initial publication was followed by extensive efforts to develop artificial cells and biomembrane mimics. Typical examples include that of Gebicki and Hicks (2), who observed formation of globular aggregates from dispersed thin films of oleic acid and linoleic acid. Hargreaves and Deamer (3) described vesicular aggregates from 1:1 mixtures of saturated fatty acids of C12 to C20 chains and single-chain lysolecithin. These aggregates were, however, not sufficiently stable and devoid of definite evidence for the existence of the isolated bilayer structure. Since that time, there have been numerous investigations of how to produce cell-like aggregates from synthetic and semiartificial analogues.
