title: Phospholipid phase transitions in model and biological membranes as studied by infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is an extremely powerful yet non-perturbing physical technique for monitoring the conformation and dynamics of all portions of the phospholipid molecule. In this brief review we summarize some recent FT-IR spectroscopic studies of phospholipid phase transitions in model lipid bilayer and in biological membranes which illustrate the great utility of this technique. We show that FT-IR spectroscopy can accurately monitor the gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition and can provide a large amount of detailed information about phospholipid structure and organization in both the gel and liquid-crystalline states of lipid bilayers.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Science, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Mantsch
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: McElhaney
mesh_terms: D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008563:Membrane Lipids; D010743:Phospholipids