Influence of gramicidin on the dynamics of DMPC studied by incoherent elastic neutron scattering

By using the fixed energy window method in incoherent elastic neutron scattering, molecular motions in the 150 ps timescale in highly oriented multilayers of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) membranes in excess of water (D2O) have been studied as a function of temperature, in the range from 27 to 325 K. The same system in partially deuterated form and with the addition of a pore-forming peptide (gramicidin) has also been investigated. By proper orientation of the membrane plane with respect to the scattering wavevector Q, information on in plane and out of plane motions of lipid membranes have been derived. Two relevant dynamical transitions were observed at T = 297 K and at T = 270 K. The former is related to the structural main transition from gel to liquid phase of the phospholipid bilayer, while the latter is related to a transition of the aqueous solvent. The inclusion of gramicidin shifts the main transition down to 294 K and the second transition up to 276 K. In both cases the observed dynamical transitions show an enhanced mobility in the direction normal to the membrane plane.