Abstract
Aqueous dispersions of the anionic phospholipid dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol (DMPG), around 100 mM ionic strength, are known to exhibit a thermal behavior similar to that of the largely studied lipid dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC), which undergoes a gel to liquid crystalline phase transition at 23 °C, well characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and other methods. However, at low ionic strength, DMPG has been shown to present a large gel–fluid transition region, ranging from 18 to 35 °C. This intermediate phase is optically transparent and characterized by a continuous change in membrane packing. Structural properties of the DMPG gel–fluid transition region will be discussed, based on results obtained by several techniques: electron spin resonance (ESR) of spin labels at the membrane surface and intercalated at different depths in the bilayer; light scattering; DSC; small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS); and fluorescence spectroscopy of probes in the bilayer.
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