An electron spin resonance study of cholestane spin label in aqueous mixtures of biliary lipids

The effect of cholesterol on the fluidity of the phospholipid matrix in mixed micelles derived from bile salts and lecithin has been determined by the paramagnetic probe technique. It was found that correlation times for the cholestane spin label were discontinuous functions of cholesterol content and that these discontinuities correlate with the equilibrium solubility limit for cholesterol in this quaternary system. The origin of these discontinuities is attributed to the existence of another aggregate in addition to the discshaped mixed micelle in lipid solutions supersaturated with cholesterol.