Condensing and fluidizing effects of ganglioside GM1 on phospholipid films

Mixed monolayers of the ganglioside GM1 and the lipid dipalmitoylphosphatidlycholine (DPPC) at air-water and solid-air interfaces were investigated using various biophysical techniques to ascertain the location and phase behavior of the ganglioside molecules in a mixed membrane. The effects induced by GM1 on the mean molecular area of the binary mixtures and the phase behavior of DPPC were followed for GM1 concentrations ranging from 5 to 70 mol %. Surface pressure isotherms and fluorescence microscopy imaging of domain formation indicate that at low concentrations of GM1 (<25 mol %), the monolayer becomes continually more condensed than DPPC upon further addition of ganglioside. At higher GM1 concentrations (>25 mol %), the mixed monolayer becomes more expanded or fluid-like. After deposition onto a solid substrate, atomic force microscopy imaging of these lipid monolayers showed that GM1 and DPPC pack cooperatively in the condensed phase domain to form geometrically packed complexe