Stability of macroion-decorated lipid membranes

Adsorption of macroions such as colloidal particles, proteins, or other rigid biopolymers onto oppositely charged, mixed lipid membranes is a ubiquitous phenomenon encountered in biotechnology, drug delivery, and cellular biology. The softness and self-assembled nature of the membrane enable the macroion–membrane complex to laterally reorganize via forming macroion clusters, lipid domains, or separate phases, and to exhibit curvature modulations or even morphological transitions. Almost always, the lateral organization of the membrane and associated macroion layer mutually depend on each other so that neither of the two extreme views—macroion-induced membrane domain formation or membrane-mediated macroion clustering—strictly accounts for the underlying energetics. We review and discuss some recent efforts to describe the lateral organization and stability of macroion-decorated lipid membranes using different levels of mean-field electrostatics, thereby focusing on binary membranes and the destabilizing role of compositional gradients.