Raman spectra have been recorded as a function of temperature for lipid-protein complexes of glycophorin isolated from erythrocyte membranes reconstituted with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and its chain perdeuterated analogue ([(2)H(62)]DPPC). The conformation of the phospholipid hydrocarbon chains in the vicinity of protein is drastically altered from that in pure lipid dispersions. A...

The ordering in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers and bilayers on a semiconducting indium tin oxide (ITO) surface has been investigated at the equilibrium potential of the interface and at various externally applied potentials. Second- and fourth-rank order parameters of a diphenylhexatriene (DPH) containing phospholipid probe were derived from total internal re...

The breakdown voltage and specific electrical capacitance of planar lipid bilayers formed from lipids isolated from the membrane of archaeon Aeropyrum pernix K1 as a function of temperature were studied and compared with data obtained previously in MD simulation studies. Temperature dependence of breakdown voltage and specific electrical capacitance was measured also for dipalmitoylphosphatidyl...

The molecular mechanism underlying the action of local anesthetics is still elusive. Phenylethanol (PEtOH) is an ingredient of essential oils with a rose-like odor and has been used as a local anesthetic. In this work, we have explored the effect of PEtOH on thermotropic behavior and organization of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) membranes utilizing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC...

Langmuir monolayers of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) and a mixture of DPPC with curcumin (CUR) have been investigated at the air-water interface through a combination of surface pressure measurements and atomic force microscopy (AFM) observation. By analyzing the correlation data of mean molecular areas, the compressibility coefficient, and other thermodynamic parameters, w...

Intrinsic heterogeneities, represented as domain formations in biological membranes, are important to both the structure and function of the membranes. We observed domain formations in mixed lipid bilayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC), and cholesterol (chol) in a fluid environment using an atomic force microscope (AFM). At room temperature, we de...

DNA-lipid complexes are of biomedical importance as delivery vectors for gene therapy. To gain insight into the interactions of DNA with zwitterionic and cationic (dimyristoyltrimethylammonium propane (DMTAP)) lipids, we have used coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to study the self-assembly of DPPC and DPPC/DMTAP lipid bilayers in the presence of a DNA dodecamer. We observed the spo...

We have studied the effect of ergosterol, an important component of fungal plasma membranes, on the physical properties of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) multibilayers using deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance ((2)H NMR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). For the (2)H NMR experiments the sn-1 chain of DPPC was perdeuterated and NMR spectra were taken as a function of temperatu...

The number of water molecules bound (unfreezable) by a molecule of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylserine (DPPS) or by a molecule of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) alone or in mixtures with cholesterol was determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). When the phospholipids are in the gel state and in the absence of cholesterol, molecule of DPPS binds about 3.5 molecules of water and m...