Counterion release from oppositely charged surfaces in the cationic lipid-DNA self-assembly

Abstract

Articles you may be interested inObservation of spermidine-induced attractive forces in self-assembled monolayers of single stranded DNA using a microcantilever sensor Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 153704 (2011); 10.1063/1.3580775Self-assembly of cholesterol DNA at liquid crystal/aqueous interface and its application for DNA detection Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 153702 (2009); Abstract. The number of counterions released by oppositely charged objects, in aqueous solvents, upon their self-assembly was investigated with mean field and liquid theory approaches. We find that both Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation and liquid theory lead to the same amount of ion's excess in the slit of asymmetrically charged plates at small plates separation and salt concentration. The incorporation of ion's size in PB equation does not lead to important corrections on the predicted excess of ions as compared to PB equation for pointlike ions when it is applied to study the selfassembly made by cationic lipids and DNA.