Biophysical Journal 64: 163-170 (1993)
© 1993 the Biophysical Society

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Comparison between orientational and conformational orders in fluid lipid bilayers.

Département de chimie, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.

ABSTRACT

The orientational order as determined by 2H NMR and the infrared frequencies of the C--H stretching modes of the methylene groups have been measured for several systems (POPC, POPC/cholesterol and POPE), all in the fluid phase, and then were compared; this work reveals an unexpected linear correlation between them. This experimental result shows that both measurements are essentially sensitive to a common motion, most likely trans/gauche isomerisation. This new correlation with those already found in the literature suggest that several measurements related to the hydrophobic core of the fluid bilayer describe different aspects of a universal behavior. The correlation presented here does not extend to the lipid in gel phase where slower motions affect the NMR lineshape.