FORM AND STRUCTURE OF SELF-ASSEMBLING PARTICLES IN MONOOLEIN-BILE SALT MIXTURES

We studied particle morphology in the isotropic part of the bile salt-monoolein-water phase map using small-angle neutron scattering. The bile salts used in this work are cholylglycine and chenodeoxycholylglycine. These systems are models for particle form and molecular arrangement in intestinal content when bile components are replaced by hydrolysis products of dietary triglycerides. We found that the molecular arrangement of the particles present is qualitatively the same as that in the bile salt-phosphatidylcholine systems. This result indicated that the particle morphology is conserved when the products of dietary triglyceride hydrolysis are incorporated, suggesting that the form of bile particle morphology is retained. These observations suggested further that the bile salt and the presence of a hydrocarbon chain are the most important determinants of the functional form of the bile particles, as the monoglyceride is a single-tailed, nonionic surfactant; as opposed to the phosphatidylcholines, which are two-tailed, zwitterionic surfactants.