Mixed DPPC/DPPG monolayers at very high film compression.

A drop shape technique using a constrained sessile drop constellation (ADSA-CSD) has been introduced as a superior technique for studying spread films specially at high collapse pressures [Saad et al. Langmuir 2008, 24, 10843-10850]. It has been shown that ADSA-CSD has certain advantages including the need only for small quantities of liquid and insoluble surfactants, the ability to measure very low surface tension values, easier deposition procedure, and leak-proof design. Here, this technique was applied to investigate mixed DPPC/DPPG monolayers to characterize the role of such molecules in maintaining stable film properties and surface activity of lung surfactant preparations. Results of compression isotherms were obtained for different DPPC/DPPG mixture ratios: 90/10, 80/20, 70/30, 60/40, and 50/50 in addition to pure DPPC and pure DPPG at room temperature of 24 degrees C. The ultimate collapse pressure of DPPC/DPPG mixtures was found to be 70.5 mJ/m2 (similar to pure DPPC) for the cases of low DPPG content (up to 20%). Increasing the DPPG content in the mixture (up to 40%) caused a slight decrease in the ultimate collapse pressure. However, further increase of DPPG in the mixture (50% or more) caused a sharp decrease in the ultimate collapse pressure to a value of 59.9 mJ/m2 (similar to pure DPPG). The change in film elasticity was also tracked for the range of mixture ratios studied. The physical reasons for such changes and the interaction between DPPC and DPPG molecules are discussed. The results also show a change in the film hysteresis upon successive compression and expansion cycles for different mixture ratios.