ArticleJournal of the American Chemical Society2026
Lipid Bilayer-Confined J-Aggregation Transduces Cell Membrane Mechanics into Photoacoustic Signals.
Article in Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Membrane tension, defined as the in-plane mechanical stress of the lipid bilayer, encodes membrane stretch and lipid packing density. Despite its central role in regulating cellular behavior, measuring membrane tension in a direct and noninvasive way in deeper tissue (beyond microscopy) remains a major challenge. Here, we report a supramolecular strategy that transduces membrane mechanics into a spectrally resolved photoacoustic signal through lipid bilayer-confined J-aggregation. We employ two complementary probes: a fluorescence-active system to report aggregation behavior in the lipid bilayer of LUVs and an optimized analogue to enable cellular photoacoustic readout. We found that amphipathic BODIPY-based probes are inserted into lipid membranes and exist as either monomers or slip-stacked J-aggregates with aggregate populations dictated by lipid packing density, which is in turn influenced by membrane tension or lipid composition. Only ordered J-aggregates formed under membrane-confined conditions enable efficient conversion of absorbed light into PA805 signals. Kinetically driven large aggregates spectrally observable via absorption experiments in protein-rich environments are inactive in photoacoustic mode. This decoupling between optical absorption and photoacoustic output reveals aggregate geometry as a critical determinant of photothermal efficiency. Furthermore, the bilayer-confined PA805 on/off behavior minimizes background signals from uninserted probes, enabling wash-free photoacoustic imaging. In model membranes and live cells, PA805 inversely correlates with lipid packing density, enabling noninvasive readout of membrane tension-associated changes.
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