Glucose, sucrose and trehalose are partially excluded from the interface of hydrated DMPC bilayers.

The free energy of membrane-sugar interactions for DMPC bilayers hydrated in binary aqueous mixtures of, respectively, glucose, sucrose and trehalose was directly determined by differential vapor pressure measurements using both isothermal and temperature scanning modes. It was consistently found that the membrane interacts more favorably with water than with the sugars, and thus concluded that the sugars are preferentially excluded from the hydration layers. This observation contradicts a number of recent computational studies.