title: Tilt angle of lipid acyl chains in unilamellar vesicles determined by ellipsometric light scattering.
abstract: Ellipsometric light scattering (ELS) at room temperature is applied to unilamellar vesicles (approximately 50 nm radius) of 1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) in the gel phase and of 1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) in the liquid-crystaline phase. A high sensitivity of this technique to the local anisotropy is found. From the resulting local birefringence, a lower limit of (29 +/-0.5) degrees for the average tilt angle of the lipid chains of DPPC with respect to the membrane normal is estimated. This tilt angle value is slightly lower than literature values for the tilt angle in oriented lipid multi-bilayers on solid substrates.
authors: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Wissenschaftspark Golm, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Golm, Germany. aerbe@arcor.de
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Erbe
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Sigel
mesh_terms: D015060:1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000737:chemistry*; D000215:Acylation; D016880:Anisotropy; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry*; D044367:Phase Transition; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000737:chemistry*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008081:Liposomes; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D015060:1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine; C017251:1,2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine