Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
41
pubmed:dateCreated
2001-10-9
pubmed:abstractText
Specialized plasma membrane domains known as lipid rafts participate in signal transduction and other cellular processes, and their liquid ordered (L(o)) phase appears to be important for their function. To quantify ordered lipids in biological membranes, we investigated steady-state fluorescence anisotropy of two lipid probes, 2-[3-(diphenylhexatrienyl)propanoyl]-1-hexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPH-PC) and N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)-1,2-dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (NBD-PE). We show using model membranes with varying amounts of cholesterol that steady-state fluorescence anisotropy is a sensitive measure of cholesterol-dependent ordering. The results suggest that DPH-PC is a more sensitive probe than NBD-PE. In the presence of cholesterol, ordering also depends on the degree of saturation of the phospholipid acyl chains. Using DPH-PC, we find that the plasma membrane of RBL-2H3 mast cells is substantially ordered, roughly 40%, as determined by comparison with anisotropy values for model membranes entirely in a liquid ordered (L(o)) phase and in a liquid disordered (L(alpha)) phase. This result is consistent with the finding that approximately 30% of plasma membrane phospholipids are insoluble in 0.5% Triton X-100. Furthermore, detergent-resistant membranes isolated by sucrose gradient fractionation of Triton X-100 cell lysates are more ordered than plasma membrane vesicles, suggesting that they represent a more ordered subset of the plasma membrane. Treatment of plasma membrane vesicles with methyl-beta-cyclodextrin resulting in 75% cholesterol depletion leads to commensurate decreases in lipid order as measured by anisotropy of DPH-PC and NBD-PE. These results demonstrate that steady-state fluorescence anisotropy of DPH-PC is a useful way to measure the amount of lipid order in biological membranes.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Oct
pubmed:issn
0006-2960
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
16
pubmed:volume
40
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
12422-9
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2001
pubmed:articleTitle
Fluorescence anisotropy measurements of lipid order in plasma membranes and lipid rafts from RBL-2H3 mast cells.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-1301, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.