6533b853fe1ef96bd12ac1a1

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Trehalose interacts with phospholipid polar heads in Langmuir monolayers

subject

description

Surface pressure−area isotherms, surface potential-area isotherms and fluorescence microscopy were employed to study the behavior of phospholipid monolayers at the air/water interface when trehalose was added to the aqueous subphase. In the presence of this sugar, the critical area corresponding to the onset of surface potential increases, indicating that trehalose is participating in the network of hydrogen bonds between the phospholipid polar heads. In addition, it causes an expansion of the isotherm, hindering the formation of the liquid-condensed phase. The collapse area is significantly increased, indicating that trehalose takes part in the monolayer structure without being expelled even at high surface pressures. A quantitative comparison of the collapse areas and critical areas for surface potential in the presence and in the absence of the sugar shows that an almost fixed number of trehalose molecules interacts with the monolayer independently of the surface packing, thus indicating that the obser...