Growth rate of myelin figures for phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine.

The growth length of myelin figures (or myelin tubes) was measured for several kinds of phospholipids using optical microscopy. The measurements were done for myelin figures with various thickness of tube wall. In spite of remarkable differences in morphology between the myelin figures of phosphatidylcholine and those of phosphatidylethanolamine, the growth rates for both were adapted to the expression proposed previously. The initial rate and the damping factor of the growth were inversely proportional to the wall thickness of myelin tubes.