Observation of the inverted hexagonal phase of lipids by scanning tunneling microscopy

Zeng, Ke; Kang, Lin

doi:10.1016/0005-2760(92)90272-w

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

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“…Among the scanning probe techniques, the early use of scanning tunnelling microscopy in this type of research produced images which were difficult to interpret owing to the fact that the mechanism of contrast formation in nonconducting materials is not yet understood (Yuan & Shao, 1990;Yang et al, 1993), and conductive coating is not applicable in high resolution work. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has proved to be a more promising technique (Ohnesorge & Binnig, 1993); however, the resolution so far achieved with Langmuir-Blodgett films or with lamellar aggregates of amphiphilic molecules is no better than 0'5 run (Zeng& Lin. 1992;Schwartz et al, 1992;Hui et al, 1995;Manne & Gaub, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atomic force microscopy observations of acyl chains in phospholipids

Muscatello

Valdrè²,

Valdrè³

1996

Journal of Microscopy

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The potential use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) to image the mode of assembly and to measure the corresponding lattice parameters of model systems consisting of ordered aggregates of cardiolipin molecules has been investigated. An unprecedented resolution of about 0·2 nm has been achieved on suitably prepared specimens. This enables the orientational order and the positional correlations of the individual molecules in the lattice to be defined, and submolecular details, such as the acyl chains and the polar groups, to be imaged. The structural parameters derived from AFMhave been compared with those obtained by transmission electron diffraction of the same specimen and found to be in excellent agreement. AFM turns out to be a powerful and probably a unique tool to reveal local phase variations in systems, such as biological membranes, that have non‐homogeneous composition and organization.

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