Computer simulation of mixed lipid/non-ionic surfactant membranes

Monte Carlo simulations based on simplified lipid and surfactant models have been performed to study the influence of electrostatic interactions on the structure of the lipid headgroups in mixed lipid/surfactant membranes. Lateral orientational order of the lipid headgroups, the formation of chain-like structures along the membrane plane and the tendency of the headgroups to tilt down and to lie in the membrane plane appear dependent on the content of surfactant in the mixed membrane and show accordance with experimental results.