Mesoscopic models of lipid bilayers and bilayers with embedded ...

6.3 Results and Discussion 85
ρ(z)
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
−0.1
−6 −4 −2 0
Z
2 4 6
0.0
−0.1
(a) Pure bilayer
−0.2
−6 −4 −2 0
Z
2 4 6
w
h
t (1,..,n−1)
t n
ρ tot
0.3 w
h
0.2
t (1,..,n−1)
tn db
0.1
π(z)
(c) dbA
0.3 w
h
0.2
t (1,..,n−1)
tn db
0.1
π(z)
0.0
−0.1
−0.2
−6 −4 −2 0
Z
2 4 6
0.0
−0.1
(b) dbH
0.3 w
h
0.2
t (1,..,n−1)
tn db
0.1
π(z)
−0.2
−6 −4 −2 0
Z
2 4 6
(d) dbN
Figure 6.3: Density profiles for the pure ht (L)
6 t bilayer (a), and for the same bilayer with (b)
hydrophobic (dbH), (c) amphiphilic (dbA), and (d) neutral dumb-bells (dbN). In figures (b),
(c) and (d) the lateral pressure profile π(z) of the pure bilayer is also plotted. Note that the
densities have been rescaled to fit in the same scale as the lateral pressure (hence the values
on the graphs ordinate refer to π(z) only). The scaling factor for the density of the dumb-bells
is two times smaller than the scaling for water and lipid densities. The densities refer to water
(w), lipid headgroup (h), lipid hydrophobic tail-beads excluding the last one (t(1,...,n−1)), last
tail-bead (tn), and dumb-bells (db). For the pure bilayer the total density ρtot is also plotted.