Phase-Specific Diffusivity of DPPG Monolayers

The primary role of lung surfactant is to reduce the alveolar surface tension during exhalation in a reversible manner. Failure to do so results in respiratory distress syndrome. Model lung surfactants provide simplified systems for studying the mechanisms that underlie this essential role of alveolar surfactant. Dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylglycerol (DPPG) monolayers exhibit reversible folding when compressed to a critical surface tension. This process may exemplify how the compression-expansion cycle attains reversibility and, thus, requires penetrating study. The buckling theory for reversible collapse provides a promising though untested description of this process, but poor knowledge of domain boundary widths in DPPG monolayers impedes the evaluation of this theory as a model for the observed behavior. In turn, the measurement of the domain boundary widths requires knowledge of the phase-specific viscosities of the monolayer. In this study, multi-particle tracking has been used to determine the phase-specific diffusion coefficients of polystyrene spheres embedded in DPPG monolayers. By invoking a Stokes-Einstein relationship that is appropriate for spheres diffusing in a viscous surfactant, the phase specific viscosities of the monolayers have been estimated. The rationale for this work is that this knowledge will promote the quantitative evaluation of buckling as a model for reversible folding and, thus, promote growth in understanding of the folding mechanism in model lung surfactants.