NMR elastometry of fluid membranes in the mesoscopic regime.
In solid-state 2H NMR of fluid lipid bilayers, quasielastic deformations at MHz frequencies are detected as a square-law dependence of the nuclear spin-lattice (R(1Z)) relaxation rates and order parameters (S(CD)). The signature square-law slope is found to decrease progressively with the mole fraction of cholesterol and with the acyl chain length, due to a stiffening of the membrane. The correspondence to thermal vesicle fluctuations and molecular dynamics simulations implies that a broad distribution of modes is present, ranging from the membrane size down to the molecular dimensions.
Martinez
Gary V
GV
Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721, USA.
Dykstra
Emily M
EM
Lope-Piedrafita
Silvia
S
Job
Constantin
C
Brown
Michael F
MF
D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000737:chemistry; D004548:Elasticity; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D013816:Thermodynamics
D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine