Diffraction of X-rays by rippled phosphatidylcholine bilayers
Alecio MR., Miller A., Watts A.
X-ray diffraction patterns have been obtained from the rippled phases of two pure synthetic phosphatidylcholines (dimyristoyl and dipalmitoyl) and mixtures of these phospholipids and cholesterol arranged in oriented multibilayer stacks. These show for the first time in an oriented specimen, a two-dimensionally resolved pattern near the meridian. For example, in pure dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine the unit cell is two-dimensional and oblique. The ripples have a wavelength of 165.3 Å and are at least 1000 Å wide in the direction perpendicular to this, in the plane of the bilayer. The shape of the ripple is more complex than simply sinusoidal. © 1985.