Lipids polarity

Figure 2 Snapshot from an MD simulation of a multilamellar liquid crystalline phase DPPC bilayer. Water molecules are colored white, lipid polar groups gray, and lipid hydrocarbon chains black. The central simulation cell containing 64 DPPC and 1792 water molecules, outlined m the upper left portion of the figure, is shown along with seven replicas generated by the periodic boundary conditions. (From Ref. 55.)...

This chapter has given an overview of the structure and dynamics of lipid and water molecules in membrane systems, viewed with atomic resolution by molecular dynamics simulations of fully hydrated phospholipid bilayers. The calculations have permitted a detailed picture of the solvation of the lipid polar groups to be developed, and this picture has been used to elucidate the molecular origins of the dipole potential. The solvation structure has been discussed in terms of a somewhat arbitrary, but useful, definition of bound and bulk water molecules. 

Biomolecules interact with one another through molecular surfaces that are structurally complementary. How can various proteins interact with molecules as different as simple ions, hydrophobic lipids, polar but uncharged carbohydrates, and even nucleic acids ... 

Many natural products, i.e. homologous aliphatic (lipids), polar (sugars, amino acids), and cyclic (terpenoids) compounds can be utilized as biomarkers. The following is a brief overview of the classical biomarkers commonly used, namely lipids and terpenoids. 

From the data presented here several conclusions may be reached regarding the effect of cholesterol on lipid bilayers. It is shown that, even if the presence of cholesterol in bilayers serves to moderate temperature-induced changes, its ability to affect the location of solubilized molecules is highly temperature dependent We have also shown, in accord with previous work (11), that the presence of cholesterol in the gel phase results in a larger separation between the lipid polar groups and this in turn allows water to penetrate into the lipid hydrophobic core. 

Recent experiments have shown that the non-specific, physical chemical interactions between small hydrophobic, water-insoluble molecules and the hydrocarbon chains of lipid membranes are important determinants of the rate at which these molecules enter cells and are metabolized (3.34). Cholesterol has the capability of modifying these interactions and also increases the affinity of vesicle surfaces for amphiphillic molecules (4) separating the lipid polar groups (35). 

Cholesterol can modify both the hydrophobic attraction between lipid hydrocarbon chains and electrostatic interactions between lipid polar groups. The influence it has on the location of 9HP reflects this dual effect At low temperature, the "spacer" effect of cholesterol allows the ketone to gain access directly to the lipid-water interface. At high temperatures, a more disordered hydrocarbon core favors the solubilization of the guest molecule. 

The effect of cholesterol on the thermotropic phase behavior of PC bilayer also varies significantly with the structure, particularly the degree of unsaturation, of the hydrocarbon chains, with more highly unsaturated PCs exhibiting a reduced miscibility with cholesterol and other sterols. Moreover, the structure of the lipid polar headgroup is also important in determining the effect of cholesterol on the host lipid, as is the structure of the sterol molecule itself. For more information on the application of DSC to the biologically important area of lipid-sterol interactions, the reader is referred to recent reviews (23-25). 

Table 1 Gel — liquid-crystalline and lamellar — nonlamellar phase transition temperatures [°C] of fully hydrated lipids as a function of the lipid polar head group and hydrocarbon chain length (33, 46, 52, 55, 56)...

Polar lipids. Polar lipids, mainly phospholipids, are present in fats and oils, and these originate primary as components of cell membranes and serve biological functions in the cells. Among phosphohpids present are phosphotidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylinositol (PI). In general, saturated fatty acids are present at the sn-1 and unsaturated fatty acids at the sn-2 positions of phosphohpid molecules. 

Ultimately, sequestering charged lipids could potentially lead to a new stable state, in which bilayer bending forces favor membranes with local nonzero curvature. Moreover, the mechanism for coupling local lipid composition with membrane curvature may be complemented by a "local spontaneous curvature" mechanism [88], whereby the asymmetry between the spontaneous shapes of two monolayers is achieved by insertion of amphipathic N-terminal helices of certain BAR domains into the lipid polar head-groups region on one side of the membrane [7,88-95]. According to this mechanism, the insertion of an amphipathic... 

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