On the stability and growth of single myelin figures

TL;DR

This paper investigates the formation, growth, and stability of single myelin figures, revealing their dependence on driving stress and providing insights into their dynamic behavior in surfactant systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates the controlled production of isolated single myelin figures and analyzes their growth and retraction mechanisms under varying stress conditions.

Findings

Myelins grow from bilayer edges with material transport involved.

They only form and grow under the presence of a driving stress.

Removing stress causes myelins to retract.

Abstract

Myelin figures are long thin cylindrical structures that typically grow as a dense tangle when water is added to the concentrated lamellar phase of certain surfactants. We show that, starting from a well-ordered initial state, single myelin figures can be produced in isolation thus allowing a detailed study of their growth and stability. These structures grow with their base at the exposed edges of bilayer stacks from which material is transported into the myelin. Myelins only form and grow in the presence of a driving stress; when the stress is removed, the myelins retract.