A solid-solution theory of anesthetic interaction with lipid membranes: temperature span of the main phase transition

Anesthetics (or any other small additives) depress the temperature of the main phase transition of phospholipid bilayers. Certain anesthetics widen the temperature span of the transition, whereas others do not. The widening in a first-order phase transition is intriguing. In this report, the effects of additive molecules on the temperature and its span were explained by the solid-solution theory. By assuming coexistence of the liquid-crystal and solid-gel phases of lipid membranes at phase transition, the phase boundary is determined from the distribution of anesthetic molecules between the liquid-crystal membrane versus water and between the solid-gel membrane versus water. The theory shows that when the lipid concentration is large or when the lipid solubility of the drug is large, the width of the transition temperature increases, and vice versa. Highly lipid-soluble molecules, such as long-chain alkanols and volatile anesthetics, increase the width of the transition temperature when the lipid:water ratio is large, whereas highly water-soluble molecules, such as methanol and ethanol, do not. The aqueous phase serves as the reservoir for anesthetics. Depletion of the additive molecules from the aqueous phase is the cause of the widening. When the reservoir capacity is large, the temperature width does not increase. The theory also predicts asymmetry of the specific heat profile at the transition.