Effects of n-alkanols on the membrane fluidity of chick embryo heart microsomes.

The n-alkanols from butanol through octanol are membrane perturbing agents that fluidize the microsomal membranes of 20-day-old chick embryo hearts as measured by the fluorescence depolarization of 1,6-diphenylhexatriene. In terms of the aqueous concentrations of n-alkanols the fluidizing effect increases with increasing number of carbons per n-alkanol. In terms of the membrane concentrations of n-alkanols the fluidizing effect is roughly equivalent for all the n-alkanols studied.