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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging and Force Spectroscopy of Supported Lipid Bilayers
Published on: July 22, 2015
Phase diagrams of lipid mixtures relevant to the study of membrane rafts
Félix M Goñi1, Alicia Alonso, Luis A Bagatolli
1Unidad de Biofísica (Centro Mixto CSIC-UPV/EHU), and Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidad del País Vasco, P.O. Box 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain. felix.goni@ehu.es
Abstract:
The present paper reviews the phase properties of phosphatidylcholine-sphingomyelin-cholesterol mixtures, that are often used as models for membrane "raft" microdomains. The available data based on X-ray, microscopic and spectroscopic observations, surface pressure and calorimetric measurements, and detergent solubilization assays, are critically evaluated and rationalized in terms of triangular phase diagrams. The remaining uncertainties are discussed specifically and separately from the data on which a consensus appears to exist.
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