Reversibility of sodium-induced aggregation of sonicated phosphatidylserine vesicles.

The kinetics of sodium-induced aggregation of sonicated phosphatidylserine vesicles has been studied as a function of sodium concentration and temperature. The concentration threshold for aggregation induced by monovalent sodium has been found to be 550 mM sodium by stopped-flow rapid-mixing techniques. This aggregation is completely reversible to changes in sodium ion concentration and to changes in temperature. The aggregation rate decreases with increasing temperature, indicating that the backward reaction rate increases more rapidly with temperature than does the forward rate.