Ethanol induces the formation of water-permeable defects in model bilayers of skin lipids
R Thind1, D W O'Neill, A Del Regno
1Department of Chemistry and Centre for Scientific Computing, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. r.notman@warwick.ac.uk.
Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England)
|January 9, 2015
Abstract:
We show that ethanol can induce the formation of water-permeable defects in model membranes of skin, providing a fresh perspective on ethanol as a membrane modulator. We rationalise our findings in terms of the chemical nature of ethanol, i.e., a combination of its hydrogen bonding propensity and amphiphilic character.
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