Externally Applied Electric Fields on Immiscible Lipid Monolayers:

N. WILKE, S. A. DASSIE, E. P. M. LEIVA, Y B. MAGGIO

LANGMUIR

ACS

Lugar: USA; Año: 2006 vol. 22 p. 9664 - 9664

0743-7463

font face="Times New Roman" size="1"> Lipid and protein molecules anisotropically oriented at a hydrocarbon-aqueous interface configure a dynamic array of self-organized molecular dipoles. Electrostatic fields applied to lipid monolayers have been shown to induce in-plane migration of domains or phase separation in a homogeneous system. In this work, we have investigated the effect of externally applied electrostatic fields on different lipid monolayers exhibiting surface immiscibility. In the monolayers studied, lipids in the condensed state segregate in discontinuous round-shaped domains, with the lipid in the liquid-expanded state forming the continuous phase. The use of fluorescent probes with selective phase partitioning allows analyzing by epifluorescence microscopy