Home > Publications database > Long-Range Excitations in Phospholipid Membranes |
Journal Article | FZJ-2019-03807 |
; ; ; ;
2019
Elsevier Science
Amsterdam [u.a.]
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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/22572 doi:10.1016/j.chemphyslip.2019.104788
Abstract: We investigated the existence of long-range excitations and correlated structures in phospholipid membranes by means of grazing-incidence neutron spin echo spectroscopy, grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering, and corresponding theoretical calculations inspired by smectic-membrane theory. All these methods confirmed the existence of thermal excitations in the plane of the surface of the phospholipid membranes or the corresponding structures, respectively. Also, these measurements revealed a temperature dependence of these excitations. These excitations are associated with 100 nm in-plane correlations around physiological temperatures and of 75 nm at 16∘C. A single excitation has an energy around the μeV-regime. A temperature series revealed a high abundance at physiological temperatures and pronounced long-range in-plane structures, which are strongly suppressed at temperatures below 20∘C. From the length-scales and energy transfers involved we surmise that these excitations may play a role in several functions of the cell membranes such as stability and energy dissipation along the membrane. From a fundamental point of view, the observed behavior of those excitations is congruent with that of a quasi-particle (surface mode phonon, smomon) that exists in the plane of phospholipid membranes.
Keyword(s): Health and Life (1st) ; Medicine (2nd) ; Biology (2nd)
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