Effect of externally applied electrostatic fields on the surface topography of

NATALIA WILKE, BRUNO MAGGIO

BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

Elsevier

Año: 2006 vol. 122 p. 36 - 36

0301-4622

font face="AdvTT6120e2aa" color="#231f20" 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 the distribution of the condensed ceramide-enriched domains in mixed monolayers with sphingomyelin. In these monolayers, the lipids segregate in different phases at all pressures. This allows analyzing by epifluorescence microscopy the effect of the electrostatic field at all lateral pressure because coexistence of lipid domains