Lipids interactions

Berdel WE (1991) Membrane-interactive lipids as experimental anticancer drugs. Br J Cancer 64 208-211... 

To conclude, we presented a new method to account for the effect of the thermal fluctuations on the interactions between elastic membranes, based on a predicted intermembrane separation distribution. It was shown that for a typical potential, the distribution function is asymmetric, with an asymmetry dependent on the applied pressure and on the interaction potential between membranes. Equations for the pressure, root-mean-square fluctuation, and asymmetry as functions of the average distance (and the parameters of the interacting membranes) were derived. While no experimental data are available for two interacting lipid bilayers, a comparison with experimental data for multilayers of lipid bilayer/water was provided. The values of the parameters, determined from the fit of experimental data, were found within the ranges determined from other experiments. 

Compounds that have approximately equal-sized heads and tails tend to form bilayers instead of micelles. In these structures, two monolayers of fipid molecules associate tail to tail, thus minimizing the contact of the hydro-phobic portions with water and maximizing hydrophific interactions. Lipid molecules can move laterally (within a single layer of the bilayer, called a leaflet), but movement from one leaflet to the opposing leaflet is much more difficult. 

The ecology of plants includes their interactions with beneficial and harmful organisms—human beings, animals, insects, bacteria, yeasts and fungi. In many of these interactions lipids are... 

Electrostatic effects can also directly result in a short-range repulsive force. The dipoles of one surface can electrostatically interact with dipoles on an opposing surface and their respective polarization charges [1168]. In particular for interacting lipid bilayers, this can be a major contribution because phospholipids have a strong dipole. Attard and Patey [1172] calculated the force between two half-spaces with a certain dielectric constant across a medium with a higher dielectric constant. On the interface, they placed a square lattice of dipoles. This could, for example, be a model... 

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