Interfacial tension of phosphatidylcholine–phosphatidylserine system in bilayer lipid membrane

Abstract

The effect of pH of electrolyte solution on the interfacial tension of lipid membrane formed of phosphatidylcholine (PC, lecithin)–phosphatidylserine (PS) system was studied. In this article, three models describing the H + and OH − ions adsorption in the bilayer lipid surface are presented. In Model I and Model II, the surface is continuous with uniformly distributed functional groups constituting the centres of H + and OH − ions adsorption while in the other the surface is built of lipid molecules, free or with attached H + and OH − ions. In these models contribution of the individual lipid molecule forms to interfacial tension of the bilayer were assumed to be additive. In Model III the adsorption of the H + and OH − ions at the PC–PS bilayer surface was described in terms of the Gibbs isotherm. Theoretical equations are derived to describe this dependence in the whole pH range.