Anomalous swelling of multilamellar lipid bilayers in the transition region by renormalization of curvature elasticity

Small-angle neutron scattering is used to determine the temperature dependence of the lamellar repeat distance in an aqueous multilamellar solution of phospholipid bilayers. A thermal anomaly in the swelling behavior is observed at the bilayer phase transition. The anomalous behavior can be suppressed by varying the lipid acyl-chain length or by alloying with a molecular stiffening agent. The experimental results are explained in terms of renormalization of the bilayer curvature elasticity and by using a theory of repulsive interlamellar undulation forces.