Phospholipids lipid bilayers

Section 26 4 Phospholipids are intermediates in the biosynthesis of triacylglycerols from fatty acids and are the principal constituents of the lipid bilayer component of cell membranes... 

Lipid bilayer (Section 26 4) Arrangement of two layers of phospholipids that constitutes cell membranes The polar termini are located at the inner and outer membrane-water interfaces and the lipophilic hydrocarbon tails cluster on the inside... 

Phospholipids e.g. form spontaneously multilamellar concentric bilayer vesicles73 > if they are suspended e.g. by a mixer in an excess of aqueous solution. In the multilamellar vesicles lipid bilayers are separated by layers of the aqueous medium 74-78) which are involved in stabilizing the liposomes. By sonification they are dispersed to unilamellar liposomes with an outer diameter of 250-300 A and an internal one of 150-200 A. Therefore the aqueous phase within the liposome is separated by a bimolecular lipid layer with a thickness of 50 A. Liposomes are used as models for biological membranes and as drug carriers. 

Phospholipids are found widely in both plant and animal tissues and make up approximately 50% to 60% of cell membranes. Because they are like soaps in having a long, nonpolar hydrocarbon tail bound to a polar ionic head, phospholipids in the cell membrane organize into a lipid bilayer about 5.0 nm (50 A) thick. As shown in Figure 27.2, the nonpolar tails aggregate in the center of the bilayer in much the same way that soap tails aggregate in the center of a micelle. This bilayer serves as an effective barrier to the passage of water, ions, and other components into and out of cells. 

Liposomes are members of a family of vesicular structures which can vary widely in their physicochemical properties. Basically, a liposome is built of one or more lipid bilayers surrounding an aqueous core. The backbone of the bilayer consists of phospholipids the major phospholipid is usually phosphatidylcholine (PC), a neutral lipid. Size, number of bilayers, bilayer charge, and bilayer rigidity are critical parameters controlling the fate of liposomes in vitro and in vivo. Dependent on the preparation procedure unilamellar or multilamellar vesicles can be produced. The diameter of these vesicles can range from 25 nm up to 50 ym—a 2000-fold size difference. 

Artificial membrane systems can be prepared by appropriate techniques. These systems generally consist of mixtures of one or more phospholipids of natural or synthetic origin that can be treated (eg, by using mild sonication) to form spherical vesicles in which the lipids form a bilayer. Such vesicles, surrounded by a lipid bilayer, are termed liposomes. 

The basic structure of all membranes is the lipid bilayer. This bilayer is formed by two sheets of phospholipids in which the hydrophilic polar head groups... 

Protein 4.1, a globular protein, binds tightly to the tail end of spectrin, near the actin-binding site of the latter, and thus is part of a protein 4.1-spectrin-actin ternary complex. Protein 4.1 also binds to the integral proteins, glycophorins A and C, thereby attaching the ternary complex to the membrane. In addition, protein 4.1 may interact with certain membrane phospholipids, thus connecting the lipid bilayer to the cytoskeleton. 

The lipid bilayer of a cell membrane contains two layers of a phospholipid such as lecithin, arranged tail-to-tail. 

In studies with specific phospholipases the asymmetry in the composition of the lipid bilayer was also suggested [102,162]. The requirement of specific phospholipids, which are essential for enzyme activity, however, has not been established. For example, Saccomani et al. [102] demonstrated that readdition of various phospholipids, after phospholipase A2 treatment, results in a restoration of the K -ATPase activity. On the other hand, Nandi et al. [161] observed a restoration of the K -ATPase activity with addition of phosphatidylcholine and not with phosphatidyl-... 

Biomembranes mainly consists of phospholipid matrices, and the major component is phosphorylcholines (PC). PC is an amphiphile consisting of hydrophilic headgroup and hydrophobic long chains. In view of the amphiphilic feature of PC, we can divide hydrated lipid bilayers into the three zones, I, II, and III. The zone model, which has been used in a recent NMR study of DD [46-48], is illustrated in Fig. 2. 

New developments in immobilization surfaces have lead to the use of SPR biosensors to monitor protein interactions with lipid surfaces and membrane-associated proteins. Commercially available (BIACORE) hydrophobic and lipophilic sensor surfaces have been designed to create stable membrane surfaces. It has been shown that the hydrophobic sensor surface can be used to form a lipid monolayer (Evans and MacKenzie, 1999). This monolayer surface can be used to monitor protein-lipid interactions. For example, a biosensor was used to examine binding of Src homology 2 domain to phosphoinositides within phospholipid bilayers (Surdo et al., 1999). In addition, a lipophilic sensor surface can be used to capture liposomes and form a lipid bilayer resembling a biological membrane. 

Figure 6 Intestinal cell membrane model with integral membrane proteins embedded in lipid bilayer. The phospholipid bilayer is 30-45 A thick, and membrane proteins can span up to 100 A through the bilayer. The structure of a typical phospholipid membrane constituent, lecithin is illustrated. (From Ref. 76.)...

Liposomes are artificial structures composed of phospholipid bilayers exhibiting amphiphilic properties (Chapter 22). In complex liposome morphologies, concentric spheres or sheets of lipid bilayers are usually separated by aqueous regions that are sequestered or compartmentalized... 

Figure 22.1 The amphiphilic nature of phospholipids in solution drives the formation of complex structures. Spherical micelles may form in aqueous solution, wherein the hydrophilic head groups all point out toward the surrounding water environment and the hydrophobic tails point inward to the exclusion of water. Larger lipid bilayers may form by similar forces, creating sheets, spheres, and other highly complex morphologies. In non-aqueous solution, inverted micelles may form, wherein the tails all point toward the outer hydrophobic region and the heads point inward forming hexagonal shapes.

Activation of PE residues with these crosslinkers can proceed by one of two routes the purified PE phospholipid may be modified in organic solvent prior to incorporation into a liposome, or an intact liposome containing PE may be activated while suspended in aqueous solution. Most often, the PE derivative is prepared before the liposome is constructed. In this way, a stable, stock preparation of modified PE may be made and used in a number of different liposomal recipes to determine the best formulation for the intended application. However, it may be desirable to modify PE after formation of the liposomal structures to ensure that only the outer half of the lipid bilayer is altered. This may be particularly important if substances to be entrapped within the liposome are sensitive or react with the PE derivatives. 

Abstract To understand how membrane-active peptides (MAPs) function in vivo, it is essential to obtain structural information about them in their membrane-bound state. Most biophysical approaches rely on the use of bilayers prepared from synthetic phospholipids, i.e. artificial model membranes. A particularly successful structural method is solid-state NMR, which makes use of macroscopically oriented lipid bilayers to study selectively isotope-labelled peptides. Native biomembranes, however, have a far more complex lipid composition and a significant non-lipidic content (protein and carbohydrate). Model membranes, therefore, are not really adequate to address questions concerning for example the selectivity of these membranolytic peptides against prokaryotic vs eukaryotic cells, their varying activities against different bacterial strains, or other related biological issues. 

Other surface-active compounds self-assemble into bilayer structures (schematically illustrated in Fig. 10b), which normally spherilize into structures termed vesicles. When vesicles are formed from phospholipids, the term liposome is used to identify the structures, which also provide useful drug delivery systems [71]. Solutes may be dispersed into the lipid bilayer or into the aqueous interior, to be subsequently delivered through a variety of mechanisms. Liposomes have shown particular promise in their ability to act as modifiers for sustained or controlled release. 

---