Publications [#64943] of Sidney A Simon

Papers Published

1. McIntosh, Thomas J. and Simon, Sidney A., Short-range pressures between lipid bilayer membranes, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, vol. 116 no. 3 (1996), pp. 251 - 268 [0927-7757(96)03569-8]
   (last updated on 2007/04/15)

   Abstract:
   For many years a large, short-range repulsive interaction has been observed between a variety of hydrated surfaces. The physical origin of this ubiquitous interaction has been controversial. In the case of lipid bilayers, proposed mechanisms include a hydration pressure, due to water polarization and/or hydrogen-bond reorientation by the bilayer surface, and several types of entropic (steric) pressures, due to motion of individual lipid molecules or undulations of the entire bilayer. This review focuses on a number of recent osmotic stress/X-ray diffraction experiments performed with phosphatidylcholine bilayers designed to determine the distance range where each of these pressures dominates. In general, these observations provide compelling evidence for the presence of a longer-range undulation pressure, that markedly influences the hydration properties of phospholipid bilayers.

   Keywords:
   Hydration;Molecular dynamics;Surfaces;Lipids;Biological membranes;Separation;Volume fraction;X ray diffraction;Molecular orientation;Hydrogen bonds;