Membrane self assembly in mixed DMPC/NaC systems by SANS

Morphological transition in a mixed system of the dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC)/sodium cholate (NaC) has been investigated by small-angle scattering of neutron (SANS) and X-ray (SAXS). Structural investigation, performed as a function of temperature and NaC concentration, show that the system containing 15 mM DMPC and 6 mM NaC reveals a strong dependence of SANS spectra on the temperature. The morphological transformations has been interpreted as a micelle-to-vesicle transition which is induced by the temperature variation (TI-MVT). The main features of the obtained results show that the temperature effect are far less profound in the system containing 2 or 12 mM NaC and can be assigned to small morfological changes within the same population of particles (vesicular or micellar, respectively). The main features of the structural analysis suggest that structural transformations at the TI-MVT proceed in the following sequence: globular micelles - rod-like micelles - polymer-like micelles - unilamellar vesicles. More specifically the globular and rod like micelles present an ellipsoidal cross-section rather than circular one, the former being geometrically more favourable for accommodation of bilayer-forming molecules like DMPC into the micellar structures.