Membranes composed of amphiphilic molecules are highly flexible surfaces that determine the architecture of biological systems and provide a basic structural element for complex fluids such as microemulsions. Recently, a variety of new experimental methods such as X-ray scattering, neutron scattering, and atomic force microscopy have been used in order to study themolecular structure of these membranes. Their conformational behavior, on the other hand, is studied by optical and electron microscopy, which reveals that membranes in aqueous solution exhibit an amazing variety of different shapes. Several theoretical concepts are described suchas bending elasticity, curvature, and minimal surfaces in order to understand this polymorphism. These concepts are also useful to describe the behavior of membranes in complex fluids where they can build up hexagonal, lamellar, triply-periodic, cubic, and sponge phases. The contributions to this volume provide an up-to-date overview and describe thestate-of-the-art of this rapidly evolving field of research.

Inhalt

The Structure and Conformation of Amphiphilic Membranes: Overview.- I Molecular Structure of Membranes.- Monolayers of Amphiphilic Molecules.- The Determination of the Structure of a Mixed Surfactant Monolayer by Specular Neutron Reflection.- Does the Scanning Force Microsope Resolve Individual Lipid Molecules?.- Domain Formation in a Lipid Monolayer.- Structure and Dynamics of Planar and Spherical Supported Phospholipid Bilayers.- Translational Diffusion and Fluid Phase Connectivity in Multi-Component, Multi-Phase Lipid Bilayer Membranes.- Estimation of Gel and Fluid Domain Sizes in Two-Component Lipid Bilayers.- Phosphatidyl-Glycerol in Mixtures with Positively Charged Amphiphiles: A 2H- and 31P-NMR Study of the Phase Behaviour and Headgroup Structure.- Diffusion Controlled Reactions in Two-Dimensional Space. The Pyrene Excimer Example.- Ripple Phase in Mixed Model Membrane.- Microscopic Theory for the Ripple Phase.- The Influence of Local Anaesthetics on the Temperature and Pressure Dependent Phase Behaviour of Model Biomembranes.- Bilayer Elasticity and Its Effects on Channel-Forming Peptides.- Interaction of Charged and Uncharged Calcium Channel Antagonists with Phospholipid Membranes. Binding Equilibrium, Binding Enthalpy, and Membrane Location.- Melittin-Induced Reversible Micelle? Bilayer Transition.- Theory of Hydration Forces.- Force Equilibria Between Charged Surfaces with Confined Polyelectrolyte Chains.- II Conformation of Membranes.- Budding Transition for Bilayer Fluid Vesicles with Area-Difference Elasticity.- Some Remarks on the Shape of Toroidal Vesicles.- The Effect of Membrane Elasticity on Shapes of Nearly Spherical Phospholipid Vesicles.- Electron Microscopy of Biological Model Membranes.- Erythrocytes Membranes: Tethered Shells with Fluid-Like Deformation Regime.- The Isolated Human Red Blood Cell Skeleton: An Example of a Flexible Tethered Membrane.- Dynamics of Flat Membranes and Flickering in Red Blood Cells.- A New Cell Model - Actin Networks Encaged by Giant Vesicles.- Numerical Simulations of Vesicular and Red Blood Cell Shapes in Three Dimensions.- Dynamic Coupling and Nonlocal Curvature Elasticity in Bilayer Membranes.- Phospholipid Membrane Local and Non-Local Bending Moduli Determined by Tether Formation from Aspirated Vesicles.- Vesicle-Substrate Interaction Studied by Reflection Interference Contrast Microscopy.- Surface Induced Fusion of Vesicles into Planar Bilayers.- The Shape of an Adhered Membrane Cylinder.- Deformation of Giant Lipid Vesicles in an Electric Field.- The Effect of the Electric Field on the Shapes of Phospholipid Vesicles.- AC Field Controlled Formation of Giant Fluctuating Vesicles and Bending Elasticity Measurements.- III Membranes in Complex Fluids.- Micelles and Vesicles of Gangliosides.- Self-Assembly of Bipolar Lipids.- Determination of Size and Structure of Lipid IVA Vesiclesin by Quasi-Elastic Light Scattering and Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering.- Multicomponent Vesicular Aggregates (MCVA): Spontaneous Vesiculation of Perfluorinated Single-Chain Surfactant Mixtures.- Formation of Colloid and Liquid Crystal Phases of Magnesium Dodecylbenzenesulfonate: Interpretation by Fractals.- Ginzburg-Landau Theory of Bulk and Interfacial Properties of Amphiphilic Systems.- Shape and Size Fluctuation of Microemulsion Droplets.- Microemulsions in Technical Processes.- The Effect of Additives on Surfactant Sheets in Microemulsions.- Membrane Curvature and Structural Transitions for Charged/Uncharged Phospholipid Mixtures.- Epitaxial Relationships Between Adjacent Phases in Hydrated Monoolein.- Films of Amphiphiles and Minimal Surfaces.- Phase Transitions in Cubic Amphiphilic Crystals.- Elasticity and Excitations of Minimal Crystals.- Inverse Micellar Cubic Phases of Lipids.- Swollen Lyotropic Cubic Phases in Fully Hydrated Mixtures of Monoolein, Dioleoylphosphatidylcholine, and Dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine.- Surfactant Phases with Bilayer Structures and Their Rheological Properties.- Sponge Phases.- Structural Inversion Processes in Three-Component Ionic Microemulsion Siudied by Small Angle Neutron Scattering.- The L3 Phase Microstructure in the AOT-Brine System has a Low Average Coordination Number.- Hydrodynamic Modes of a Viscoelastic Membrane or Interface.- The Undulation Mode of Freely Suspended Liquid Films.- Index of Contributors.