FIGURE 5.

Distribution of water and phosphatidylcholine (PC) headgroups along the z axis. The region of intermediate dielectric (∼3) located between 12 and 18 Å from the bilayer center seems to largely correspond to the location of the carbonyl groups and water buried deep in the membrane. The large dielectric peak that occurs between 18 and 28 Å corresponds roughly to the region near the peaks of the negatively charged phosphate groups and the positively charged choline groups, although it is shifted by a few angstroms away from the bilayer interior.