Abstract
Neutron reflectivity was used to probe the structure of single phosphatidylcholine (PC) lipid bilayers adsorbed onto a planar silicon surface in an aqueous environment. Fluctuations in the neutron scattering length density profiles perpendicular to the silicon/water interface were determined for different lipids as a function of the hydrocarbon chain length. The lipids were studied in both the gel and liquid crystalline phases by monitoring changes in the specularly-reflected neutron intensity as a function of temperature. Contrast variation of the neutron scattering length density was applied to both the lipid and the solvent. Scattering length density profiles were determined using both model-independent and model-dependent fitting methods. During the reflectivity measurements, a novel experimental set-up was implemented to decrease the incoherent background scattering due to the solvent. Thus, the reflectivity was measured to Q ~ 0.3Å-1, covering up to seven orders of magnitude in reflected intensity, for PC bilayers in D2O and silicon-matched (38% D2O/62% H2O) water. The kinetics of lipid adsorption at the silicon/water interface were also explored by observing changes in the reflectivity at low Q values under silicon-matched water conditions.
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Krueger, S., Koenig, B.W., Orts, W.J., Berk, N.F., Majkrzak, C.F., Gawrisch, K. (1996). Neutron Reflectivity Studies of Single Lipid Bilayers Supported on Planar Substrates. In: Schoenborn, B.P., Knott, R.B. (eds) Neutrons in Biology. Basic Life Sciences, vol 64. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5847-7_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5847-7_19
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