Stopped-flow rapid kinetics of anesthetic-induced phase transition in phospholipid vesicle membranes: nonlocalized fluctuation.
Kinetics of the gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine vesicle membrane was studied by the stopped-flow technique with turbidity detection. The observed change in turbidity was well characterized by a single-exponential decay curve with relaxation time in the millisecond range, although the existence of a faster process than the dead-time of the stopped-flow apparatus was inferred from the amplitude analysis. Relaxation times were determined as functions of 1-hexanol concentration and temperature just below phase transition. From the analysis based on the theories of nonequilibrium relaxation, it is concluded that the phase transition induced by 1-hexanol is governed by a nonlocalized fluctuation mechanism. The anesthetic-induced nonequilibrium state is unstable rather than metastable.
D000777:Anesthetics; D003460:Crystallization; D005782:Gels; D000441:Hexanols; D007700:Kinetics; D008433:Mathematics; D008563:Membrane Lipids; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010743:Phospholipids; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; D013816:Thermodynamics
D000777:Anesthetics; D005782:Gels; D000441:Hexanols; D008563:Membrane Lipids; D010743:Phospholipids; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; C036260:1-hexanol