Cholesterol polyunsaturated phospholipid bilayer

Mitchell, D.C., Litman, B.J. Effect of cholesterol on molecular order and dynamics in highly polyunsaturated phospholipid bilayers. Biophys. J. 1998, 75, 896-908. 

Biomimetic bicelles were also the subject of paper by Minto et Solid-state H NMR was used to qualitatively study the effects of both choline derivative and cholesterol on magnetically aligned phospholipid bilayers (bicelles) as a function of temperature. The results demonstrated that polyunsaturated choline derivative and cholesterol were successfully incorporated into phospholipid bilayers, leading to a bicelle that could be useful for investigations of eukaryotic membrane protein-lipid interactions. 

Polyunsaturated fatty acids were epoxidized less regioselectively, generally <2 1 in favor of the double bond closer to the hydrophobic terminus. This result can be explained by a well known decrease of the rigidity of phospholipid bi layers on the addition of unsaturated fatty acids. However, when less than 20% cholesterol was added to the bilayer assembly the rigidity increased significantly and thus the regioselectivity. 

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