Interactions in lipid stabilised foam films

The interaction between lipid bilayers in water has been intensively studied over the last decades. Osmotic stress was applied to evaluate the forces between two approaching lipid bilayers in aqueous solution. The force–distance relation between lipid mono- or bilayers deposited on mica sheets using a surface force apparatus (SFA) was also measured. Lipid stabilised foam films offer another possibility to study the interactions between lipid monolayers. These films can be prepared comparatively easy with very good reproducibility. Foam films consist usually of two adsorbed surfactant monolayers separated by a layer of the aqueous solution from which the film is created. Their thickness can be conveniently measured using microinterferometric techniques. Studies with foam films deliver valuable information on the interactions between lipid membranes and especially their stability and permeability. Presenting inverse black lipid membrane (BLM) foam films supply information about the properties of the lipid self-organisation in bilayers. The present paper summarises results on microscopic lipid stabilised foam films by measuring their thickness and contact angle. Most of the presented results concern foam films prepared from dispersions of the zwitterionic lipid 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine (DMPC) and some of its mixtures with the anionic lipid — 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-[phospho-rac-(1-glycerol)] (DMPG).