Coordination Forces Between Lipid Bilayers Produced By Divalent Cations

HOLLMANN, AXEL; DISALVO, E. A.; FRIAS, M DE LOS ANGELES

Tsukuba

Congreso; The 10th International Symposium on Electrokinetic Phenomena (ELKIN 10th); 2012

Tsukuba University

Attractive forces usually invoked to take place in membrane-membrane contact in aggregation are hydrogen bonding cross-linkings and hydrophobic interactions between opposing surfaces. However, little is known in relation to the presence of non electrostatic forces in the membrane-membrane interaction. In this work, we have analyzed the formation of aggregates between adjacent vesicles mediated by ions that stabilize a complex via coordination forces. On the base of previous results we have studied the influence of the surface potential on aggregation using light scattering, optical and electronic microscopy, zeta potential and 1H NMR measurements. It is concluded that binding of transition metal cations.adsorbed on the membrane surface, may act as a bridge between two opposing membranes causing a tight aggregation by non electrostatic interactions in which geometry and the polarizability may play a role.