A comparison of lateral diffusion in supported lipid monolayers and bilayers

Lipid monolayers and bilayers exist in distinct physical states differentiated by the differences in the manner in which translational fluidity relates to their phase transition and how cholesterol influences the two. Work presented here suggests that intra-leaflet diffusion and cholesterol interactions are modulated by the nature of inter-leaflet coupling. Our results also provide an important practical caveat in the comparisons of membrane physical properties deduced using the two, mono- and bilayer, model membrane configurations.