Self-association bile salt micelles

The differing adjuvant activities of various bile salt species relate to their differing capacities to penetrate and self-associate as reverse micelles within the membrane. In reverse micelles, the hydrophilic surfaces of the molecules face inward and the hydrophobic surfaces face outward from the lipid environment. The formation of reverse micelles within the cell membranes may create an aqueous pore, through which drag moieties can pass. 

Bile salts are amphiphilic molecules that are surface active and self-associate to form micelles in aqueous solution. They increase corneal permeability by changing the rheological properties of the bilayer [231], A number of bile salts such as deoxy-cholate, taurodeoxycholate, and glycocholate have been tested so far, and it was suggested, that a difference in their physicochemical properties (solubilizing activity, lipophilicity, Ca2+ sequestration capacity) is probably related to their performance as permeability-enhancing agents [36]. 

Bile salts carry extensive hydrophobic (hydrocarbon) portions in each molecule that attempt to reduce their contact with water (4). This is reflected in rapid, dynamic association-dissociation equilibrium to form self-aggregates or micelles as the total concentration of bile salt solute is increased (the CMC) [2-6]. Experimentally, micelles are undetectable in dilute solutions of the monomers, and are detected in increasing numbers and often size above the CMC [98]. Because bile salt micelles are often small (i.e., dimers) [5], and since self-aggregation continues to proceed in many cases with increasing concentration above the CMC [17,18,20,52,98], the detection of the lowest concentration at which the first aggregates form depends particularly upon the sensitivity of the experimental probes employed [98] and the physical-chemical conditions [3-5]. 

Certain surface-active compounds [499], when dissolved in water under conditions of saturation, form self-associated aggregates [39,486-488] or micelles [39,485], which can interfere with the determination of the true aqueous solubility and the pKa of the compound. When the compounds are very sparingly soluble in water, additives can be used to enhance the rate of dissolution [494,495], One can consider DMSO used in this sense. However, the presence of these solvents can in some cases interfere with the determination of the true aqueous solubility. If measurements are done in the presence of simple surfactants [500], bile salts [501], complexing agents such as cyclodextrins [489 191,493], or ion-pair-forming counterions [492], extensive considerations need to be applied in attempting to extract the true aqueous solubility from the data. Such corrective measures are described below. 

At their critical micelle concentrations, surface active agents (such as sodium dodecyl sulfate, Triton X-100, lysolecithin, and bile salts) self-associate into spherical or rod-shaped structures. Because dilution to below the c.m.c. results in rapid disassembly or dissolution of these detergent micelles, micelles are in dynamic equilibrium with other dissolved detergent molecules in the bulk solution. 

Most of the drugs form micelles at concentrations that they do not attain in vivo. It is therefore their surface activity, rather than their self-association tendency which is more important biologically. Surface-active drugs will tend to bind hydrophobically to proteins and other macromolecules and to associate with other amphipathic substances such as bile salts, phospholipids, and receptors. As with other surface-active agents, surface-active drugs may interact directly with biological membranes. The possible biological implications of surface activity is discussed by Attwood and Florence " in relation to the phenothiazine tranquillisers and local anesthetics. 

As noted above, MeC trimerizes and MeLC does not self-associate in CHCI3. Under these conditions, Foster et al. [202] used vapor pressure osmometry to show that solubilized cholesterol (which dimerizes in CHCI3 [203]) heteroassociated with MeC but not with MeLC. The result was a 1 1 mixed dimer complex of cholesterol and MeC with a molar free energy of formation which was 33% that for the trimerization of MeC in the same solvent [202]. The bonding is presumably via the 3-hydroxyl functions in both steroids this interaction may be of potential importance in the binding of cholesterol to bile acids and salts within membranes and mixed micelles. 

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