Pulsed field gradient-spin echo NMR studies of water diffusion in a phospholipid model membrane

Water diffusion in the lamellar phase of egg phosphatidylcholine (egg PC)-water was studied by 1H NMR using the pulsed field gradient-spin echo method. The curvature of diffusion plots obtained with egg PC-water mixtures indicates that water diffusion is highly anisotropic with respect to lipid lamellae. This was confirmed by measurements made on macroscopically aligned egg PC-water as a function of orientation that categorically establish DII/DI >> .1, where the respective subscripts refer to parallel and perpendicular to the lipid bilayer. A smooth, monotonic dependence on water concentration was observed for water diffusion in aligned egg PC-water, varying at 25 degrees C from DII = 1.2 x 10(-10) m2 s 1 at n = 4.9 mol water/lipid to DII = 4.0 x 10(-10) m2 s-1 at n = 18.6 mol water/lipid. The diffusion is approximately a factor of 10 slower than in pure water because of water binding and restriction to translational motion within the aqueous layer. No evidence for a sudden drop in water diffusion coefficient at a specific water content, as previously reported with egg PC-water mixtures (Lange and Gary Bobo. 1974. J. Gen. Physiol 63:690-706), was detected. A morphological reorganization of lamellar domains, which in random orientational distribution comprise lipid-water mixtures, is the likely explanation. The study of aligned lipid-water systems is manifestly preferable.