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Fatty acids based biological membrane simple models

M. GHELMEZ (DUMITRU)1,* , M. BERTEANU2, B. DUMITRU1

Affiliation

  1. “Politehnica” University of Bucharest, Physics Department, Splaiul Independentei 303, 77206, Bucharest, Romania
  2. UMF “Carol Davila”, Elias Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest

Abstract

It has been shown that many complex molecular structures of the living matter, as for example the biological membrane, pass through a mesomorphic (liquid-crystalline) state at a characteristic temperature. This state is involved in explaining the enhanced diffusivity of lipids and proteins and the membrane evolution during its interaction with some external stimuli. The present study presents experimental results and theoretical considerations concerning some simple membrane models, based on fatty acids and their mixtures with cholesterol (black lipid membranes, Langmuir-Blodgett membranes, thin films sandwiched between transparent conducting plates). Cholesterol modifies the liquid crystalline properties, the fluidity and permeability of the fatty acids. The experimental part contains investigations as microscopic aspect, answer to an external electric field, and nonlinear optical effects under laser action. Theoretical part presents basic considerations and modeling on the studied samples, in accordance with the experimental results. Concluding remarks are detailed exposed..

Keywords

Biological membrane, Fatty acids, Cholesterol, Liquid crystals, Laser radiation.

Submitted at: Sept. 25, 2007
Accepted at: March 17, 2008

Citation

M. GHELMEZ (DUMITRU), M. BERTEANU, B. DUMITRU, Fatty acids based biological membrane simple models, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 10, Iss. 3, pp. 707-712 (2008)