The interfacial tension of the lipid membrane formed from lipid-cholesterol and lipid-lipid systems.

Interfacial tension has been determined for phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol, phosphatidylcholine-phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylethanolamine-cholesterol membranes. Phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and cholesterol (Ch) were to be investigated, because of their presence in biological membranes. Interfacial tension values of pure components are 0.81 x 10(-3) N/m, 1.67 x 10(-3) N/m, and 2.36 x 10(-3) N/m, respectively. The 1:1 complexes were formed during formation of the PC-Ch, PC-PE, and PE-Ch lipid membranes. The following parameters describing the complexes were determined: A3(-1), the surface concentrations of the lipid membranes formed from these complexes; gamma3, the interfacial tensions of such membranes and K, the stability constants of these complexes.