Mixtures of lecithin with polymerizable derivatives of cholesterol. A monolayer film balance study.

One of the best investigated binary lipid mixtures is the lecithin-cholesterol system. We show here that it is possible to modify the cholesterol in such a way that it can be polymerized without changing its behaviour in mixtures with lecithin. The polymerizable derivatives exhibit a very similar phase diagram in the mixture with dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine as the cholesterol itself. This is demonstrated by filmbalance measurements.