Membrane thickness effects

The primary site of action is postulated to be the Hpid matrix of cell membranes. The Hpid properties which are said to be altered vary from theory to theory and include enhancing membrane fluidity volume expansion melting of gel phases increasing membrane thickness, surface tension, and lateral surface pressure and encouraging the formation of polar dislocations (10,11). Most theories postulate that changes in the Hpids influence the activities of cmcial membrane proteins such as ion channels. The Hpid theories suffer from an important drawback at clinically used concentrations, the effects of inhalational anesthetics on Hpid bilayers are very small and essentially undetectable (6,12,13). 

Membrane thickness fluctuations were initially discussed in the local approach by Hladky and Gruen (HG) [102] in conjunction with their possible effect on membrane capacitance. They are directly related to the spectrum of 5-modes ... 

Further progress in understanding membrane instability and nonlocality requires development of microscopic theory and modeling. Analysis of membrane thickness fluctuations derived from molecular dynamics simulations can serve such a purpose. A possible difficulty with such analysis must be mentioned. In a natural environment isolated membranes assume a stressless state. However, MD modeling requires imposition of special boundary conditions corresponding to a stressed state of the membrane (see Refs. 84,87,112). This stress can interfere with the fluctuations of membrane shape and thickness, an effect that must be accounted for in analyzing data extracted from computer experiments. 

The phase-transition temperature, 7 , and the width of transition, A7j/2, were operationally defined based on EPR data, as shown in Figure 10.6a. As a rule, in the presence of polar carotenoids the phase transition broadens and shifts to lower temperatures (Subczynski et al. 1993, Wisniewska et al. 2006). The effects on Tm are the strongest for dipolar carotenoids, significantly weaker for monopolar carotenoids, and negligible for nonpolar carotenoids. The effects decrease with the increase of membrane thickness. Additionally, the difference between dipolar and monopolar carotenoids decreases for thicker membranes (Subczynski and Wisniewska 1998, Wisniewska et al. 2006). These effects for lutein, P-cryptoxanthin, and P-carotene are illustrated in Figure 10.6b... 

Figure 10 shows effects of the membrane thickness of DMPE LB films on the hydration behavior at three different temperatures. The hydration amount (W ) increased linearly with increasing the number of layers of LB films only around Tc, but not temperatures below and above Tc. This indicates that water molecules deeply penetrate into LB layers around Tc. The hydration rate (v<,) was very large and hardly depended on the membrane thickness around Tc. This means that water can penetrate from the top surface of the membrane, but not from the side part of LB films. 

The strategy in a molecular dynamics simulation is conceptually fairly simple. The first step is to consider a set of molecules. Then it is necessary to choose initial positions of all atoms, such that they do not physically overlap, and that all bonds between the atoms have a reasonable length. Subsequently, it is necessary to specify the initial velocities of all the atoms. The velocities must preferably be consistent with the temperature in the system. Finally, and most importantly, it is necessary to define the force-field parameters. In effect the force field defines the potential energy of each atom. This value is a complicated sum of many contributions that can be computed when the distances of a given atom to all other atoms in the system are known. In the simulation, the spatial evolution as well as the velocity evolution of all molecules is found by solving the classical Newton equations of mechanics. The basic outcome of the simulation comprises the coordinates and velocities of all atoms as a function of the time. Thus, structural information, such as lipid conformations or membrane thickness, is readily available. Thermodynamic information is more expensive to obtain, but in principle this can be extracted from a long simulation trajectory. 

The fourth term is a polarisation term. Here E(z) = di/z/dz is the electric field at position z. In previously published SCF results for charged bilayers, this last term is typically absent. It can be shown that the polarisation term is necessary to obtain accurate thermodynamic data. We note that all qualitative results of previous calculations remain valid and that, for example, properties such as the equilibrium membrane thickness are not affected significantly. The polarisation term represents relatively straightforward physics. If a (united) atom with a finite polarisability of erA is introduced from the bulk where the potential is zero to the coordinate z where a finite electric field exists, it will be polarised. The dipole that forms is proportional to the electric field and the relative dielectric permittivity of the (united) atom. The energy gain due to this is also proportional to the electric field, hence this term is proportional to the square of the electric field. The polarisation of the molecule also has an entropic consequence. It can be shown that the free energy effect for the polarisation, which should be included in the segment potential, is just half this value... 

Another complication in the quantitation of TIRF on cells is the effect of the membrane thickness itself on the profile of the evanescent wave. Reichert and Truskey<105) have calculated that, in theory, the thickness of the membrane should have a negligible effect on the fluorescence and that a simplified theory of three stratified layers (glass/water/cytoplasm) should be adequate. The theory approximates for simplicity that scattering plays a negligible role and that fluorescence intensity versus angle of observation and fluorescence lifetime are not functions of distance to the interface z. Experiments that... 

The decreased contribution of film resistance for the microtubular electrode makes sense because the effective film thickness for the microtubular system is less than for the thin film control electrode. This is because the surface area of the microtubular current collector is eight times higher than the surface area of the planar current collector. (This factor is calculated from the membrane thickness and the density and diameter of the pores in the membrane.) Since the control and microtubular electrodes contain the same amount of TiS2, the eight times higher underlying surface area of the microtubular electrode means that the TiS2 film is effectively a factor of 8 thinner, relative to the control electrode. 

Koval, G. A., Spontarelli, T., Thoen, P. and Noble, R. D. 1992. Swelling and thickness effects on the separation of styrene and ethylbenzene based on facilitated transport through ionomer membranes. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 31 1116-1122. 

In the separation mode, the effect of the membrane thickness on the process is related directly with the above mentioned aspects. The diffusive flow through a dense or a porous membrane can be described by the general formula... 

Comparative results with the Schleicher and Schuell mentorane are shown in the third row of Table 1(11). The flux and the water permeation constant increased by a factor of 40 over the previoiis results. Furthermore AX, the product of water permeation constant and total membrane thickness increased by a factor of 130. The most obvious explanation for these results is that the effective menijrane thickness was much less than the total membrane thickness. 

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