title: Measuring the kinetics of membrane phase transitions.
abstract: This article presents a brief review of literature on the physical chemistry of lipid phase transitions with emphasis on their kinetic properties. The theoretical foundations of perturbation techniques, and specifically the volume-perturbation technique are discussed in some detail. These are presented as a rationale for, and introduction to, a volume-perturbation kinetic calorimeter that we have constructed for measurement of the kinetics of lipid phase transitions. The instrument has been applied to study the gel-liquid crystalline phase transition in a variety of phospholipid bilayer systems. The design and implementation of the volume-perturbation calorimeter are presented along with a discussion of the techniques of data analysis. Finally, we present typical results obtained with this methodology for a multilamellar vesicle dispersion of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22908.
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Van Osdol
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Biltonen
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D002151:Calorimetry; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D007700:Kinetics; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010743:Phospholipids
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010743:Phospholipids