Magnetic-field-induced orientation and bending of the myelin figures of phosphatidylcholine.

In a magnetic field of up to 7 kG, myelin figures of the egg-yolk phosphatidylcholine/water system were oriented because of the diamagnetic anisotropy of the molecules through bending at the roots with the long axes parallel to the field. The time interval for an angular change of their axes was nearly in proportion to H-2. From the orientational behaviour, a curvature-elastic modulus K of lipid-bilayer could be roughly evaluated as 4 X 10(-13) erg.