Salt effects on lamellar repeat distance depending on head groups of neutrally charged lipids

Change in lamellar repeat distances of neutrally charged lipids upon addition of monovalent salts was measured with small-angle X-ray scattering for combinations of two lipids (PC and PE lipids) and six salts. Large dependence on lipid head group is observed in addition to those on added cation and anion. The ion and lipid dependences have little correlation with measured surface potentials of lipid membranes. These results indicate that the lamellar swelling by salt is not explained through balance among interactions considered previously (van der Waals interaction, electrostatic repulsion emerged by ion binding, etc.). It is suggested that effect of water structure, which is affected by not only ions but also lipid itself, should be taken into account for understanding membrane-membrane interactions, as in the Hofmeister effect.