title: Fast cholesterol flip-flop and lack of swelling in skin lipid multilayers.
abstract: Atomistic simulations were performed on hydrated model lipid multilayers that are representative of the lipid matrix in the outer skin (stratum corneum). We find that cholesterol transfers easily between adjacent leaflets belonging to the same bilayer via fast orientational diffusion (tumbling) in the inter-leaflet disordered region, while at the same time there is a large free energy cost against swelling. This fast flip-flop may play an important role in accommodating the variety of curvatures that would be required in the three dimensional arrangement of the lipid multilayers in skin, and for enabling mechanical or hydration induced strains without large curvature elastic costs.
authors: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. c.das@leeds.ac.uk.
authors: Chinmay
authors: C
authors: Das
authors: Massimo G
authors: MG
authors: Noro
authors: Peter D
authors: PD
authors: Olmsted
mesh_terms: D002784:Cholesterol / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004058:Diffusion; D004548:Elasticity; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D010539:Permeability; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008055:Lipids; D014867:Water; D002784:Cholesterol