title: Location and effect of procaine on lecithin/cholesterol membranes using X-ray diffraction methods.
abstract: X-ray diffraction studies were made on lecithin/cholesterol multilayers with very high water content and containing the local anaesthetic procaine. Narrow-angle diffraction experiments show that the procaine molecules are located with the uncharged aromatic amine group approx. 10 A from the centre of the bilayer. The polar tertiary amine group of these molecules is almost certainly located in the polar head-group region of the membrane. Wide-angle diffraction experiments show that the incorporation of procaine molecules into such lipid membranes produces an approx. 30% increase in the spread of acyl chain separation, although the average spacing between the chains is slightly reduced.
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D002784:Cholesterol; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D011343:Procaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D011343:Procaine; D002784:Cholesterol