| Abstract
| - Nearest-neighbor recognition measurements have established that the effects of deuteriumsubstitution on phospholipid mixing are exceedingly small. Thus, the mixing behavior of an exchangeablephospholipid bearing two stearoyl chains with a homologue containing two myristoyl chains in gel-fluidbilayers, fluid bilayers, cholesterol-rich fluid bilayers, and gel-fluid bilayers that have been enriched withcholesterol correspond to a difference in the free energy of mixing that is less than 2.2 cal/mol of hydrogenin all cases. These findings provide the strongest evidence to date in support of the use of deuteratedphospholipids as “nonperturbing” probes for structural and dynamic studies of bilayer membranes.
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