Theoretical Study on the Detection of Tilted Lipid Bilayers Using Surface Plasmon Resonance Techniques

• Main Authors: Koyo Watanabe, Koji Matsuura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2012-01-01
• Series: Journal of Sensors
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/640780

Effective refractive indices detected using surface plasmon resonance techniques are calculated as a function of the tilt angle of lipid bilayers in a multilayered model. The changes in the effective refractive indices are derived from the shift of an excitation angle of surface plasmon. To obtain effective refractive index plots, we determined refractive index changes in the lipid bilayers with 3 and 5 nm thicknesses as a function of tilt angle and obtained a relationship between the effective refractive index and tilt angle. We also showed that the effective refractive index depended on the lipid bilayers thickness and anisotropic permittivities, which vary with interchain distance.