Surface area of human erythrocyte lipids: reinvestigation of experiments on plasma membrane.

Ratios of the lipid monolayer area to the erythrocyte surface area are 2:1 at low surface pressures and approach 1: 1 at collapse pressures. Un saturated phospholipids in cholesterol-phospholipid complexes of membrane ex tracts resemble their saturated derivatives at collapse pressures. Area ratio and phospholipid area data are related by an equation that tests hypothetical values for molecular areas used in membrane models.