title: Kinetics of liposome disintegration from foam film studies: effect of the lipid bilayer phase state.
abstract: The kinetics of interfacial liposome breakdown is investigated in the thin liquid film microinterferometric set up of Scheludko et al. Suspensions of small unilamellar vesicles of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine are studied at temperatures above and below the temperature of the main gel-liquid crystal first order phase transition. The experimentally established time traces of the velocity of thinning of foam films are used to estimate the kinetic (rate) constants of interfacial liposome disintegration. New and previously established data for other lipids are summarized and compared with results from kinetic measurements of lipid monolayer formation. The thin film experiments confirm the existence of interfacial liposomal aggregates. A change in the kinetic behaviour is observed, due to the 'melting' of the hydrophobic tails in the lipid aggregates. This may have various consequences of biological and pharmacological importance.
authors.affiliation: Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Sofia University, 1 J. Bourchiar ave, 1126 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Vassilieff
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Panaiotov
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Manev
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Proust
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ivanova