Structure of Sodium Cholate Micelles

Abstract

Sodium cholate is a bile acid salt, which is applied as a biological detergent. The mixed systems of phospholipid/sodium cholate are used to study the self-assembly of micelles and formation of micellar systems. The micelles consisting of a phospholipid/sodium cholate mixture are used for drug delivery through the skin. An important part of the investigations in this field is examination of the structure and properties of micelles consisting of sodium cholate molecules. The structure of sodium cholate micelles have been investigated by small-angle neutron scattering. The average radius of sodium cholate micelles in the sodium cholate concentration range of 25‒100 mM is found to be 10.14 ± 0.01 Å.