Experimentally determined tilt and bending moduli of single-component lipid bilayers.

Values of the bending modulus KC and the tilt modulus Kθ are reported for single component lipid bilayers. The lipids studied have the common names DOPC, DMPC, diC22:1PC, SOPC, POPC, diPhyPC, DLPC, DPPC, DHPC and DEPC, listed in the order of number of samples examined. The experimental method, thus far the only one that measures the tilt modulus of lipid bilayers, first obtains diffuse X-ray scattering data from oriented stacks of bilayers. The values of the moduli emerge from fitting the data to the accepted tilt-dependent continuum model for the free energy of a single bilayer, further enhanced by interactions between bilayers in the stack. The results indicate the broad trend that the tilt modulus for these PC lipids is smaller the closer the temperature is to the main transition temperature. Another trend is that inclusion of tilt raises the value of the bending modulus more for lipids with smaller values of the tilt modulus. Values of both moduli are compared to recent literature values obtained from simulations and values of the bending modulus are compared to the literature values obtained by other experimental methods.