Cholesterol Organization in Phosphatidylcholine Liposomes: A Surface Plasmon Resonance Study

Materials

Kathryn A. Melzak²  Shirley A. Melzak²  Electra Gizeli¹ 

[1] Department of Biology, University of Crete and Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, F.O.R.T.H., 100 N. Plastira Street, Crete 70013, Greece; E-Mail:;Department of Nanobiotechnology, Institute for Biophysics, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Muthgasse 11/ll, Vienna A-1190, Austria; E-Mails:

关键词: cholesterol;    cyclodextrin;    liposome;    membrane;    membrane lateral organisation;    OPPC;    POPC;    solubility;    superlattice;    surface plasmon resonance;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ma5112306

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Models for the organization of sterols into regular arrays within phospholipid bilayers have been proposed previously. The existence of such arrays in real systems has been supported by the fact that concentration-dependent sterol properties show discontinuities at the cholesterol mole fractions corresponding to regular lattice arrangements. Experimental results presented here are based on a surface plasmon resonance assay that was used to analyze rates of cyclodextrin-mediated removal of cholesterol from adsorbed liposomes at cholesterol mole fractions up to χ_C = 0.55. Two kinetic pools of cholesterol were detected; there was a fast pool present at χ_C > 0.25, and a slow pool, with a removal rate that was dependent on the initial χ_C but that did not vary as χ_C decreased during the course of one experiment. The cholesterol activity therefore seems to be affected by sample history as well as local concentration, which could be explained in terms of the formation of superlattices that are stable for relatively long times. We also describe a variation on the traditional lattice models, with phosphatidylcholine (PC) being treated as an arrangement of hexagonal tiles; the cholesterol is then introduced at any vertex point, without increasing the total area occupied by all the lipid molecules. This model is consistent with Langmuir trough measurements of total lipid area and provides a simple explanation for the maximum solubility of cholesterol in the PC bilayer.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.