Ionic strength dependent vesicle adsorption and phase behavior of anionic phospholipids on a gold substrate

The authors report on the effect of ionic strength on the formation of supported vesicle layers of anionic phospholipids 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-rac-glycerol (DMPG) and dimyristoylphosphatidylserine (DMPS) onto gold. Using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring the authors show that vesicle adsorption is mainly governed by NaCl concentration, reflecting the importance of electrostatic interactions in anionic lipids, as compared to zwitterionic 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. At low ionic strength, low or no adsorption is observed as a result of vesicle–vesicle electrostatic repulsion. At medium ionic strength, the negative charges of DMPG and DMPS are screened resulting in larger adsorption and a highly dissipative intact vesicle layer. In addition, DMPS exhibits a peculiar behavior at high ionic strength that depends on the temperature of the process.