The possibility of laboratory X-ray reflectometry study of the structure of dimyristoyl phosphatidylserine (DMPS) phospholipid monolayers on the water surface in various phase states has been demonstrated.

The effect of the adsorption of a polypeptide on the lateral interaction of dimyristoylphosphatidylserine molecules in different phase states on the surface of a 10 mM KCl aqueous solution has been studied. Changes in the surface pressure and Volta potential induced by the adsorption of large poly-D-lysine molecules (about 200 links in a chain) have been determined at different areas per lipid molecule in a monolayer. The adsorption of macromolecules noticeably increases the elasticity of the monolayer under lateral compression in the liquid expanded state of lipid and reduces the effective dipole moment from 0.48 to 0.38 D. These properties are in qualitative agreement with X-ray reflectometry data for the lipid monolayer obtained with synchrotron radiation with a photon energy of ≈ 70 keV. The electron density profiles perpendicular to the surface of the aqueous subphase have been reconstructed from reflectometry data within a model approach to the structure of an interface with two and three layers. These profiles indicate the existence of a wide diffuse polymer layer (150 ± 40)Å in width at the interface of the monolayer in both the liquid expanded and liquid condensed states. A decrease in the area per molecule in the monolayer by a factor of 2 results in the doubling of the surface density of the macromolecule film. The adsorption of the polymer also affects the integral density of the layer of polar phospholipid groups, which decreases by a factor of ≈ 2 in the liquid expanded phase and by ∼ 30 % in the liquid condensed phase.

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