High-Content Imaging Platform to Discover Chemical Modulators of Plasma Membrane Rafts

Plasma membrane organization profoundly impacts cellular functionality. A well-known mechanism underlying this organization is through nanoscopic clustering of distinct lipids and proteins in membrane rafts. Despite their physiological importance, rafts remain a difficult-to-study aspect of membrane organization, in part because of the paucity of chemical tools to experimentally modulate their properties. Methods to selectively target rafts for therapeutic purposes are also currently lacking. To tackle these problems, we developed a high-throughput screen and an accompanying image analysis pipeline to identify small molecules that enhance or inhibit raft formation. Cell-derived giant plasma membrane vesicles were used as the experimental platform. A proof-of-principle screen using a bioactive lipid library demonstrates that this method is robust and capable of validating established raft modulators including C6-and C8-ceramide, miltefosine, and epigallocatechin gallate as well as identifying new ones. The platform we describe here represents a powerful tool to discover new chemical approaches to manipulate rafts and their components.