Unbinding of lipid bilayers induced by osmotic pressure in relation to unilamellar vesicle formation

Abstract
Small-angle X-ray scattering and phase-contrast microscopy experiments were performed to investigate the effect of osmotic pressure on vesicle formation in a dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC)/water/NaI system. The multi-lamellar structure of lipid bilayers is unstabilized when a lipid film with a sufficient amount of NaI is hydrated by pure water. It has been confirmed that this phenomenon is due to the effect of osmotic pressure induced by a heterogeneous distribution of NaI molecules. This could be the origin of the unbinding of lipid bilayers to conform large uni-lamellar vesicles.
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