Fatty acids membrane composition

Guillot, A., Obis, D. Mistou, M. Y. (2000). Fatty acid membrane composition and activation of glycine-betaine transport in Lactococcus lactis subjected to osmotic stress. Int. J. Food Microbiol, 55,47-51. 

It is not clear why LA and none of the saturated fatty acids that were studied disrupted endothelial barrier function. The injurious effects of LA on cultured endothelial cells may be mediated, in part, by the induction of peroxisomes and, thus, by excessive hydrogen peroxide formation. In addition, enrichment of endothelial lipids with selective fatty acids can modify specific cellular lipid pools and alter the morphology of cultured cell monolayers. Such fatty acid-mediated compositional changes may be sufficient to alter membrane properties, e.g., fluidity and activities of membrane-bound enzymes. One may speculate from these and other data that high dietary intakes of certain unsaturated fatty acids, such as LA, might not be entirely safe. 

Current research on changes in the stracture of the cytoplasmic membrane shows the involvement of 1) the composition of the fatty acids of the phospholipids like the cis/trans isomerization of unsaturated fatty acids 2) composition of phospholipid headgroups and 3) rate of turnover of membrane components. 

Membranes are composed of phospholipids and proteins. The fatty acid composition of the phospholipids in a membrane influences how it is affected by the cold. In general, as the temperature of a cell is lowered the lipids in the membrane bilayer undergo a phase transition from a liquid crystalline (fluid) state to a gel (more solid) state. The temperature at which this transition takes place is very narrow for phospholipids composed of a simple mixture of fatty acids, but is quite broad for the phospholipids in cellular membranes. It is usually implied from various methods... 

Fig. 1. Relative composition of root microsomal membranes from 24 land races, varieties and breeding lines of rice which differ in their salt resistance. Campesterol, Stigmasterol and Sitosterol as % of total sterols 16 0, 18 1, 18 2 and 18 3 fatty acids as % of total fatty acids Na transport on a relative scale from (1) lowest to (9) highest. Data of D.R. Lachno, T.J. Flowers A.R. Yeo (unpublished).

The amounts and fatty acid compositions of the various phospholipids vary among the different cellular membranes. 

The lipid content of the membranes can be varied, allowing systematic examination of the effects of varying lipid composition on certain functions. For instance, vesicles can be made that are composed solely of phosphatidylchohne or, alternatively, of known mixtures of different phospholipids, glycohpids, and cholesterol. The fatty acid moieties of the lipids used can also be varied by employing synthetic lipids of known... 

Ethanol and choline glycerolipids were isolated from calf brain and beef heart lipids by PTLC using silica gel H plates. Pure ethanol amine and choline plasmalogens were obtained with a yield of 80% [74]. Four phosphohpid components in the purple membrane (Bacteriorhodopsin) of Halobacterium halobium were isolated and identified by PTLC. Separated phosphohpids were add-hydrolyzed and further analyzed by GC. Silica gel G pates were used to fractionate alkylglycerol according to the number of carbon atoms in the aliphatic moiety [24]. Sterol esters, wax esters, free sterols, and polar lipids in dogskin hpids were separated by PTLC. The fatty acid composition of each group was determined by GC. 

Kramer, S. D. Begley, D. J. Abbott, N. J., Relevance of cell membrane hpid composition to blood-brain barrier function Lipids and fatty acids of different BBB models, Am. Assoc. Pharm. Sci. Ann. Mtg., 1999. 

It has been suggested [6] that these unusual sterols, especially in those cases where these unusual sterols comprise the entire sterol content of the organisms, likely replace conventional sterols as cell-membrane components. Evidence for this comes from subcellular fractionation and subsequent analysis of two marine sponges [10]. The sterol composition of the membrane isolates was found to be identical to that of the intact sponge. Most common variation of the marine sterol is in the side-chain, situated deep in the lipophylic environment of the phospholipid bilayer. This suggests that unusual fatty acids might accompany the sterols, and indeed this is often the case [8]. 

C. D. Stubbs and A. D. Smith, The modification of mammalian membrane polyunsaturated fatty acid composition in relation to membrane fluidity and function, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 779, 89-137 (1984). 

Bums, C. P., Rosenberger, J. A., and Luttenegger, D. G., 1983, Selectivity in modification of the fatty acid composition of normal mouse tissues and membranes in vivo, Ann. Nutr. Metab. 27 268-277... 

A chronic change in the diet can influence the composition of membrane phospholipids and such a change can be important in health. The ratio of the amount of these two fatty acids consumed (i.e. omega-6/omega-3) in a typical... 

Figure 20.18 The central dogma of molecular biology a summary of processes involved inflow of genetic information from DNA to protein. The diagram is a summary of the biochemical processes involved in the flow of genetic information from DNA to protein via RNA intermediates. This concept had to be revised following the discovery of the enzyme, reverse transcriptase, which catalyses information transfer from RNA to DNA (see Chapter 18). It may have to be modified in the future since changes in the fatty acid composition of phospholipids in membranes can modily the properties of proteins, and possibly their functions, independent of the genetic information within the amino acid sequence of the protein (See Chapters 7, 11 and 14).

Ramesh B, Viswanathan P, Pugalendi KV. (2007) Protective effect of Umbelliferone on membranous fatty acid composition in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Eur J Pharmacol 566 231-239. 

Most lipids are barely soluble in water, and many have amphipathic properties. In the blood, free triacylglycerols would coalesce into drops that could cause fat embolisms. By contrast, amphipathic lipids would be deposited in the blood cells membranes and would dissolve them. Special precautions are therefore needed for lipid transport in the blood. While long-chain fatty acids are bound to albumin and short-chain ones are dissolved in the plasma (see p. 276), other lipids are transported in lipoprotein complexes, of which there several types in the blood plasma, with different sizes and composition. 

---