"Preface I wonder how much it would take to buy a soap bubble, if there were only one in the world. (Mark Twain, 1835-1910) Soap bubbles are thin, spherical films of soapy water that only exist for a few seconds, depending on their water content and composition. They are commonly used by children for play, but it is also fascinating how soap bubbles have been used to elucidate problems in the physical world. In some ways, cell membranes are analogous to soap bubbles, including the importance of water in determining their stability. Cell membranes, however, are much more than soap bubbles. Biological membranes are functional, selectively permeable barriers which surround the various cell organelles (e.g., mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, etc.), enabling them to maintain their characteristic differences from the cytosol. Their mimetics--for example, liposomes--are used in a number of scientific and technological applications, some of which are covered in this book. The broad range of such applications can be attributed mostly to Janus-faced properties of amphiphilic molecules that make up these aggregates (lipids, surfactants, polymers), where one side prefers to associate with water, while the other associates with oil. These faces can also be "tuned" in a manner that aggregates can assume morphologies, ranging from micelles, to lamellar and nonlamellar phases, to microemulsions. Importantly, each of these self-assembled morphologies possesses its own unique physical properties, which offer the potential for scientific insight and/or technological application"-- Provided by publisher. "With contributions from leading researchers in their fields, this book provides a comprehensive collection of state-of-the-art lipid/model membrane research and industrial/technological applications all in one volume. It is divided into two sections. The first section covers recent lipid/model membrane research, while the second provides examples of how lipid systems have been successfully used in the pharmaceutical, textile, and food industries. "-- Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.