Membrane wound healing at single cellular level

1. A small hole (circled by a white circle in the main photograph) was created on the fluorescently labeled HeLa cell surface by digesting the phospholipid bilayer with a phospholipase A2 coated bead on an AFM cantilever. 2. The hole is rapidly surrounded by fluorescent vesicles (light blue circles). The hole is gradually filled from the peripheral regions in 3, 4, and 5. The approximate rate of resealing was 0.014 μm2 s−1 corresponding to ~24,000 phospholipid molecules/s. Scale bar = 20 μm.82