Lamellar phase
Lamellar phase refers generally to packing of
liposomes
, many such lipid bilayer sheets are layered concentrically with water layers in between.
.jpg)
In lamellar lipid bilayers, polar headgroups of lipids align together at the interface of water and hydrophobic
acyl chains align parallel to one another 'hiding away' from water. The lipid head groups are somewhat more 'tightly' packed than relatively 'fluid' hydrocarbon fatty acyl long chains. The lamellar lipid bilayer organization, thus reveals a 'flexibility gradient' of increasing freedom of motions from near the head-groups towards the terminal fatty-acyl chain methyl groups. Existence of such a dynamic organization of lamellar phase in liposomes as well as biological membranes can be confirmed by spin label electron paramagnetic resonance and high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies of biological membranes and liposomes.[1]
In 'soft matter science', where physics and chemistry meet biological science, a bilayer lamellar phase has been recently created from fluorinated silica, and it has been projected for use as a shear-thinning lubricant.[2]
See also
References
- ^ YashRoy R C (1990) Magnetic resonance studies of dynamic organisation of lipids in chloroplast membranes. Journal of Biosciences, vol. 15 (No.4), pp. 281-288.
- ^ Pottage M J, Kasuma T, Grillo I, Gravey C J, Stickland A D and Tabor R F (2014) Fluorinated lamellar phases: Structural characterization and use as templates for highly ordered silica materials. Soft Matter, vol. 10 (No. 27), pp. 4902-4912.
External links
- Bilayer formation through molecular self-assembly - YouTube
- Cell Membrane - The Lipid Bilayer - YouTube
 | This biophysics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |