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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
We consider entropic effects of vesicles and passages confined between lamellas in fluid membrane lamellar (Lα) phases. We show that their presence induces attractive interactions between lamellas which strongly compete with steric repulsion in the vicinity of phase transitions from the lamellar to isotropic membrane phases. An interplay between steric repulsion and entropic interactions mediated by passages and vesicles determines the inter-lamellar distance reached at these transitions. This distance crucially depends on the membrane Gaussian bending rigidity constant.