Evidence for a large internal pressure in biological membranes.

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Abstract
A method (hygroscopic desorption) was developed for measuring the binding of small molecules to [rabbit muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum] membranes. With this method, it was found that the binding of the amphipathic compounds chlorpromazine, 2,4-dinitrophenol, and 1-decanol to various cell membranes is remarkably low, with partition coefficients, Kp, no larger than about 0.1. On the other hand, with phospholipid vesicles of large or small diameters, Kp values for these compounds were much larger. The results suggest that there exists in membranes a large internal pressure that excludes the amphipaths from the membranes and that does not exist in phospholipid vesicles.