Ordering and lyotropic behavior of a silicon-supported cationic and neutral lipid system studied by neutron reflectivity

Self-assembling of amphipathic lipid films on solid support allows the structural investigation of important biological model systems, such as the vectorlike lipid membranes, in order to improve DNA transfection in nonviral gene therapy. We present a neutron reflectivity study of a binary lipid system composed of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDAB) deposited on [100] silicon support by means of spin coating technique. We underline their lyotropic behavior under saturated deuterium oxide (D2O) vapor thus pointing out that the lipid mixture is organized in ordered domains composed of plane lamellar bilayers of noninteractive DOPC and DDAB.