Reduction of nanoscopic dynamics in the zwitterionic membrane by salt

The effect of addition of lithium chloride on the lateral diffusivity and internal motion of lipid in unilamellar dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) vesicles was investigated using elastic incoherent neutron scattering, quasielastic incoherent neutron scattering, and differential scanning calorimetry. A shift of the main phase transition to a higher temperature indicated a broader temperature range of the thermodynamic stability of the ordered phase resulting from the salt addition. A universal stiffening effect exerted by lithium chloride on the lipid membrane manifested itself in (1) lower mean-square displacement and (2) decreasing diffusivities, both lateral and localized, in both the ordered gel and the disordered fluid phase state. A strong reduction in the lateral lipid diffusivity was likely primarily due to the strong interaction of Li+ ions with the head group of the zwitterionic DMPC lipid and was consistent with the previous reports of the effect of a salt addition on the self-diffusivity of zwitterionic lipids in a membrane. Besides the whole lipid long-range diffusivity, quasielastic neutron scattering allowed measurements of the local internal motion of the lipid. Despite the weak interaction between the ions and the uncharged lipid tails, in both the ordered and the disordered phase states, the local diffusivity of the lipid tails decreased by a factor of 2.2 in the presence of the salt, which closely correlates with the decrease in the diffusivity (that is, an increase in viscosity) of water in the LiCl salt solution by a factor of 2.4. Regardless of the phase state of the membrane, the decrease in the local diffusivity of the lipid seems to mimic the decrease in the diffusivity (which is inverse of the increase of viscosity) of the solvents. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.