Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B W Ninham.
A simple theory is developed that explains the formation of bilayers and vesicles and accounts quantitatively for many of their physical properties: Properties including vesicle size distributions and bilayer elasticity emerge from a unified theory that links thermodynamics, interaction free energy, and molecular geometry. The theory may be applied to the analysis of more complicated membrane structures and mechanisms.
Experimental results on the effect of electrostatics on bilayer phase transitions are compared with corresponding data for monolayers and the predictions of electrical double layer theory. The two substantial conclusions which emerge are that: (i) double layer theory based on a continuous surface charge distribution cannot explain all the relevant data, a situation which may be improved by taking into account the discrete nature of the surface charge distribution; (ii) the crystal - liquid crystal phase transition of charged bilayer membranes is always a continuous one which takes place through an intermediate state consisting of both fluid and frozen domains.
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