We have recorded modified X-ray diffraction patterns to 15 Å spacing from sciatic nerves treated with mercuric chloride (HgCl₂) at concentrations of 0.5 to 32 mm in water or in saline. The observed changes in repeat period and in the intensities of the low-order reflections indicate closer packing of membranes at their cytoplasmic surfaces after treatments with HgCl₂. In addition, HgCl₂ at 0.25 mm or more prevents swelling in water at the extracellular boundaries. By comparing the distinctive diffraction patterns from nerves treated under different conditions with HgCl₂, we have interpreted the changes in intensities of the higher order X-ray reflections and have calculated electron density profiles of the modified membranes. The most striking difference between membrane profiles before and after treatment with HgCl₂ is the large increase in electron density in the region of the lipid headgroup peak in the cytoplasmic half of the bilayer. The magnitude and location of this increase suggests labeling of myelin lipid. To examine this possibility, we analyzed the lipids from mercury-treated sciatic nerves.

Thin-layer chromatography of lipids extracted from nerves treated with HgCl₂ shows a marked decrease of phosphatidylethanolamine, which exists in myelin primarily as plasmalogen. At the same time, a new spot identified as lysophosphatidylethanolamine appears. An identical result was obtained by treating extracted lipids with HgCl₂, suggesting that the same sites of interaction are present in the intact membrane as in the dispersed lipids. Previous studies on plasmalogens indicate that mercury adds to the β-carbon of the α,β-unsaturated ether group to produce a lyso-lipid and an aldehyde with bound mercury (Norton, 1959). From a correlation of our X-ray structural analysis and the chemical studies, we conclude that phosphatidylethanolamine plasmalogen is preferentially localized in the cytoplasmic half of the myelin membrane bilayer.