title: Permeability of lipid membranes revised in relation to freeze-thaw processes.
abstract: Water and solute activity gradients created during freeze-thaw processes produce water and solute fluxes across the cell membrane resulting in volume changes. Under these conditions, osmotic and thermal stresses affect the curvature, the phase behavior, and the surface properties of the lipid bilayer. These structural changes are not considered by the classical formalisms describing permeability of lipid membranes to water and nonelectrolytes such as the Nernst-Planck equation, Eyring's absolute rate theory, and Kedem-Katchalsky's thermodynamic of irreversible processes approach. In this paper, the influence of such changes on the glycerol permeation kinetics are reported. The results indicate that osmotic and chemical effects of the cryoprotectant on the membrane properties affect the rate of volume swelling depending on whether the membrane is in the gel or in the liquid crystalline state.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquimicas Teoricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA) Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Senisterra
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Disalvo
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D005615:Freezing; D005990:Glycerol / Q000378:metabolism; D006982:Hypertonic Solutions; D007700:Kinetics; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000378:metabolism; D008081:Liposomes; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009997:Osmotic Pressure; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D006982:Hypertonic Solutions; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008081:Liposomes; D008563:Membrane Lipids; D014867:Water; D005990:Glycerol