Search results for "Surface forces apparatus"
showing 10 items of 15 documents
Role of hydrophobic forces in bilayer adhesion and fusion.
1992
With the aim of gaining more insight into the forces and molecular mechanisms associated with bilayer adhesion and fusion, the surface forces apparatus (SFA) was used for measuring the forces and deformations of interacting supported lipid bilayers. Concerning adhesion, we find that the adhesion between two bilayers can be progressively increased by up to two orders of magnitude if they are stressed to expose more hydrophobic groups. Concerning fusion, we find that the most important force leading to direct fusion is the hydrophobic attraction acting between the (exposed) hydrophobic interiors of bilayers; however, the occurrence of fusion is not simply related to the strength of the attrac…
Role of calcium in the adhesion and fusion of bilayers.
1993
The interaction forces and fusion mechanisms of mixed zwitterionic-anionic phospholipid bilayers were measured with the surface forces apparatus. The bilayers were 3:1 mixtures of either dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine and dimyristoylphosphatidylglycerol (DMPC/DMPG) or dilauroylphosphatidylcholine and dilauroylphosphatidylglycerol (DLPC/DLPG), and experiments were carried out in NaCl solutions with and without CaCl2. In NaCl solutions, the forces between either mixed bilayer system were consistent with the DLVO (Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek) theory of repulsive electrostatic and attractive van der Waals forces, and fusion did not occur. At high pH (> 6) and in high (20 mM) NaCl concentra…
Adhesion and adhesion hysteresis of mica surfaces covered with bola-amphipiles in dry and humid air
1998
Abstract Bola-amphiphiles with spherical hydrophilic chinuclidinium head groups form laterally ordered monolayers on mica by adsorption from solution. To measure the surface adhesion, JKR-type compression/decompression cycles have been performed with the surface forces apparatus (SFA). In an inert atmosphere, the adhesion energy on increasing the contact area is much lower than predicted by wetting experiments. Furthermore, the pronounced adhesion hysteresis varies from sample to sample in a wide range, indicating a defect-rich surface. On increase of the relative humidity (rh), the reproducibility improves and the values for the adhesion energy measured on compression and decompression con…
The role of the hydrophobic force in bilayer adhesion and fusion
1991
The Surface Forces Apparatus technique was used for measuring the adhesion, deformation, and fusion of bilayers supported on mica. The technique allows the molecular rearrangements to be followed in real time during the fusion process, and the most important forces involved to be identified. The adhesion between two bilayers can be increased by two orders of magnitude if they are thinned so as to expose more hydrophobic groups. For all the bilayer systems studied a single basic fusion mechanism was found in which the bilayers do not “overcome” the short-range repulsive steric-hydration forces; instead, local bilayer deformations allow these repulsive forces to be “bypassed”. The results fur…
Theory and Simulations of Friction between Flat Surfaces Lubricated by Submonolayers
2001
Recent simulations suggest that wearless friction between two solid surfaces can only be obtained if the two surfaces are commensurate or if they are lubricated by a film. Some simple theoretical arguments are given why the presence of a submonolayer film between two solids leads to friction. Possible implications of the symmetry of the confining walls on the tribological properties of the system are then investigated in the presence of a thin film by means of molecular dynamics simulation. Erratic stick-slip motion of the incommensurate system and oscillating friction forces for the commensurate system in the sliding regime are observed.
A thin absorbing layer at the center of a Fabry-Pérot interferometer
1994
The influence of a dye (Rhodamin B) dissolved in solution or adsorbed at an interface at the center of a Fabry-Perot interferometer on the transmission was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. We show that (i) spectra of extremely thin films are measurable at sub-monolayer concentration (one monolayer reduces the transmission by ≃50%), (ii) the transmission is sensitive to the location of an extremely thin film within nm range and (iii) the absorption coefficient is determined quantitatively by comparison between theory and experiment thus permitting one to estimate the local concentration. The results are relevant for the use of dye probes to monitor changes of organic inter…
Structure and Dynamics of Confined Liquids: Challenges and Perspectives for the X-ray Surface Forces Apparatus
2019
Preprint of the open access article Weiss, H., Cheng, H.-W., Mars, J., Li, H., Merola, C., Renner, F. U., Honkimäki, V., Valtiner, M., & Mezger, M. (2019). Structure and Dynamics of Confined Liquids: Challenges and Perspectives for the X-ray Surface Forces Apparatus. Langmuir, 35(51), 16679–16692. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01215
Molecular Mechanisms Controlling the Self-Assembly Process of Polyelectrolyte Multilayers
1998
The distance dependent interaction between polyelectrolyte-covered mica surfaces in aqueous solution was investigated with the surface forces apparatus. We find the following: (i) The surface charge changes sign, when an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte from a concentrated polyelectrolyte solution is adsorbed. (ii) Tails and loops of the adsorbed polyions dangle into the bulk phase, inducing a small steric force. If polycations and poyanions are adsorbed on top of each other, a strong short range attractive force is seen due to ion-pair formation after crossing a large repulsive electrostatic/steric barrier. (iii) Obviously, after polyelectrolyte adsorption, there are still nonoccupied b…
4-4-20 anti-fluorescyl IgG Fab' recognition of membrane bound hapten: direct evidence for the role of protein and interfacial structure.
1995
The surface forces apparatus was used to identify the molecular forces that control the interactions of monoclonal 4-4-20 antifluorescyl IgG Fab' fragments with fluorescein-presenting supported planar bilayers. At long range, the electrostatic force between oriented Fab' and fluorescein monolayers was controlled by the composition of the protein exterior surrounding the antigen-combining site rather than by the overall protein charge. The measured positive electrostatic potential of the Fab' monolayer at pH > pI(Fab') was consistent with the structure of the exposed Fab' surface in which a ring of positive charge at the mouth of the antigen-combining site dominates the local electrostatic s…
Molecular mechanisms determining the strength of receptor-mediated intermembrane adhesion
1995
The strength of receptor-mediated cell adhesion is directly controlled by the mechanism of cohesive failure between the cell surface and underlying substrate. Unbinding can occur either at the locus of the specific bond or within the bilayer, which results in tearing the hydrophobic anchors from the membrane interior. In this work, the surface force apparatus has been used to investigate the relationship between the receptor-ligand bond affinities and the dominant mechanism of receptor-coupled membrane detachment. The receptors and ligands used in this study were membrane-bound streptavidin and biotin analogs, respectively, with solution affinities ranging over 10 orders of magnitude. With …