Figure 1

Exploding vesicles. (A) A sequence of images showing the explosion of an oleate vesicle (containing 10 mM HPTS, in 0.2 M Na-bicine, pH 8.5) under intense illumination, releasing the encapsulated dye (0.11 sec) and smaller internal vesicles (0.33 sec). (B) A sequence of images showing the explosion and membrane rupture of an oleate vesicle labeled by a membrane-localized dye (Rh-DHPE, vesicle containing 10 mM HPTS, in 0.2 M Na-bicine, pH 8.5) under intense illumination at the excitation wavelength for HPTS (Additional File 4). Scale bar, 5 μm.