A statistical mechanical model of cholesterol/phospholipid mixtures: linking condensed complexes, superlattices, and the phase diagram.

ABSTRACT: Despite extensive studies for nearly three decades, lateral distribution of molecules in cholesterol/phospholipid bilayers remains elusive. Here we present a statistical mechanical model of cholesterol/phospholipid mixtures that is able to rationalize almost every critical mole fraction (X(cr)) value previously reported for sterol superlattice formation as well as the observed biphasic changes in membrane properties at X(cr). This model is able to explain how cholesterol superlattices and cholesterol/phospholipid condensed complexes are interrelated. It gives a more detailed characterization of the LG(I)region (a broader region than the liquid disordered-liquid ordered mixed-phase region), which is considered to be a sludgelike mixture of fluid phase and aggregates of rigid clusters. A rig

SUBMITTER: Sugar IP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4120115 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature