Detection of the Entry of Nonlabeled Transportan 10 into Single Vesicles

The entry of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) into live cells and lipid vesicles has been monitored using probe (e.g., fluorescent dye)-labeled CPPs. However, probe labeling may alter the interaction of CPPs with membranes. We have developed a new method to detect the entry of non-labeled CPPs into the lumens of single giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) without pore formation in the GUV membrane. The GUVs contain large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) whose lumens contain a high (self-quenching) concentration of the fluorescent dye calcein. If the CPPs enter the GUV lumen and interact with these LUVs to induce calcein leakage, the fluorescence intensity (FI) due to calcein in the GUV lumen increases. The lipid compositions of the LUVs and GUVs allow leakage from LUVs but not from the GUVs. We applied this method to detect the entry of transportan 10 (TP10) into single GUVs comprising dioleoylphosphatidylglycerol and dioleoylphosphatidylcholine and examined the interaction of low concentrations of nonlabeled TP10 with single GUVs whose lumens contain Alexa Fluor 647 hydrazide (AF647) and the LUVs mentioned above. The FI of the GUV lumen due to calcein increased continuously with time without leakage of AF647, indicating that TP10 entered the GUV without pore formation in the GUV membrane. The lumen intensity due to calcein increased with TP10 concentration, indicating that the rate of entry of TP10 into the GUV lumen increased. We estimated the minimum TP10 concentration in a GUV lumen detected by this method. We discuss the entry of nonlabeled TP10 and the characteristics of this method.