We observe that the addition of 20%

We observe that the addition of 20% of palmitic and stearic acids, i.e. the two saturated fattyacids (16:0 and 18:0, respectively), generates a more severe membrane stabilization in terms of  anda more considerable loss of cooperativity (increase of ACI values) if compared to the effect derivingfrom elaidic acid ?.A;.U9t), in accordance with the results already reported in the literature for morecomplex systems.25,26 Nevertheless, the enthalpic stabilizations respect to the FFA-free modelmembrane in this case are of the same order for all the three systems containing the FFAs mentionedabove. On the other hand, the incorporation of 20% of all the cis-unsaturated FFAs leads to a moderatedecrease of the membrane thermodynamic stability and the magnitude of their impact depends on thenumber of C=C double bonds (Table 2). The micro-DSC thermograms indicate that their destabilizingeffect is more pronounced on the high stability lipid phases. Specifically, linoleic acid ?.A;,U9c,12c)reduces the transition cooperativity more than oleic acid ?.A;.U9c) as revealed by the ACI value,whereas the high irregularity of DHA’s molecular structure ?,,;9U4c,7c,10c,13c,16c,19c) is mainly reflectedin a strong decrease of the enthalpic contribution to the gel-to-liquid crystalline phase transition.