ESTIMATES OF THE PROBABILITY OF CREATION AND THE SPEED OF PROPAGATIONOF [[SOLID]] PHASE WITHIN [[FLUID]] ONE IN MULTILAMELLAR LIPID-MEMBRANE

Probability of creation of a critical nucleus of <<solid>> phase withi n the <<parent>> fluid phase in a lipid bilayer strongly depends upon the depth of supercooling of the bilayer. Therefore, for. a micron-siz ed vesicle, the characteristic time of freezing, alternates within a w ide range of values: from tens of hours to microseconds when the depth of supercooling changes from -0,5 to -1 degrees C, correspondingly. S peed of propagation of the front of <<solid>> phase along a bilayer is of order of 1 cm/s, and, thus, a vesicle of 1 micron size will be cov ered by the new phase, once created, during the time of 0,1 ms. These estimates were obtained indirectly, by calculation from kinetic parame ters determined previously for the nucleation processes in multilamell ar vesicles of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine [4].