Transduction to self-assembly of molecular geometry and local interactions in mixtures of ceramides and ganglioside GM1.

In mixed monolayers with ganglioside GM1, ceramide induces a non-ideal increase of the monolayer collapse pressure, a reduction of the mean molecular area and a decrease of the surface potential per molecule at all surface pressures. The critical packing parameter and van der Waals interaction energy calculated from monolayer data predict the transduction of changes from the molecular to the supramolecular level, such as formation of bilayers and possible subsequent facilitation of non-bilayer structures as the ceramide concentration increases, along with a greater thermal stability of the lipid structures. In agreement with the expectations from monolayer data, calorimetry, dynamic light scattering and electron microscopy data reveal the actual presence of phases with high phase-transition temperatures; at about 5 mol% ceramide in the mixture, the aggregates change their topology from micelles to multilamellar vesicles of increasing size and finally to long, thin tubules as the amount of ceramide in the system increases.