Evidence for the propagation of 2D pressure pulses in lipid monolayers near the phase transition

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the direct observation of pressure pulses propagating on lipid monolayers, revealing their dependence on phase transition and suggesting biological communication roles.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of pressure pulse propagation in lipid monolayers and links their velocity to the interface's nonlinear properties and phase state.

Findings

Pressure pulses are directly observed on lipid monolayers.

Pulse velocity varies with phase transition, showing a minimum at the transition.

Propagating pulses could facilitate biological communication.

Abstract

The existence and propagation of acoustic pressure pulses on lipid monolayers at the air/water-interfaces are directly observed by simple mechanical detection. The pulses are excited by small amounts of solvents added to the monolayer from the air phase. Employing a deliberate control of the lipid interface compressibility k, we can show that the pulses propagate at velocities, which are precisely reflecting the nonlinear behavior of the interface. This is manifested by a pronounced minimum of the sound velocity in the monolayer phase transition regime, while ranging up to 1.5 m/s at high lateral pressures. Motivated by the ubiquitous presence of lipid interfaces in biology, we propose the demonstrated sound propagation as an efficient and fast way of communication and protein modulation along nerves, between cells and biological units being controlled by the physical state of the interfaces.