期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1989
卷号：86
期号：17
页码：6445-6448
DOI：10.1073/pnas.86.17.6445
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Fluorescence microscopy can be used to visualize coexisting fluid phases in lipid monolayers composed of cholesterol and dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine under specified conditions of temperature, composition, and lateral pressure. At a critical composition of {approx}30 mol% cholesterol, decreasing the average molecular area below ac [unk]50 A2 per molecule forces the binary mixture through a critical point, where the monolayer becomes homogeneous. At molecular areas {approx}10% above this critical area, we observe shape transitions from liquid domains with circular shapes to domains with less symmetrical shapes. Shape transitions and critical shape fluctuations can also be triggered with light, due to photochemical effects on the monolayer. Shape fluctuations of lipid domains can thus be used to sense chemical events at the air-water interface.
