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Title: Lipid bilayer thickness determines cholesterol's location in model membranes

Journal Article · · Soft Matter
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01777K· OSTI ID:1344271
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [6];  [7]
  1. Brock Univ., St. Catharines (Canada); Univ. of Graz, Graz (Austria)
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (United States)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  5. Brock Univ., St. Catharines (Canada)
  6. Indiana Univ. - Purdue Univ. Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN (United States)
  7. Brock Univ., St. Catharines (Canada); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Indiana Univ. - Purdue Univ. Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN (United States)

Cholesterol is an essential biomolecule of animal cell membranes, and an important precursor for the biosynthesis of certain hormones and vitamins. It is also thought to play a key role in cell signaling processes associated with functional plasma membrane microdomains (domains enriched in cholesterol), commonly referred to as rafts. In all of these diverse biological phenomena, the transverse location of cholesterol in the membrane is almost certainly an important structural feature. Using a combination of neutron scattering and solid-state 2H NMR, we have determined the location and orientation of cholesterol in phosphatidylcholine (PC) model membranes having fatty acids of different lengths and degrees of unsaturation. The data establish that cholesterol reorients rapidly about the bilayer normal in all the membranes studied, but is tilted and forced to span the bilayer midplane in the very thin bilayers. The possibility that cholesterol lies flat in the middle of bilayers, including those made from PC lipids containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), is ruled out. Finally, these results support the notion that hydrophobic thickness is the primary determinant of cholesterol's location in membranes.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1344271
Journal Information:
Soft Matter, Vol. 12, Issue 47; ISSN 1744-683X
Publisher:
Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 46 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (7)

One Step Electrode Fabrication for Direct Electron Transfer Cholesterol Biosensor Based on Composite of Polypyrrole, Green Reduced Graphene Oxide and Cholesterol Oxidase journal September 2018
The Production of Matchout-Deuterated Cholesterol and the Study of Bilayer-Cholesterol Interactions journal March 2019
Cholesterol in phospholipid bilayers: positions and orientations inside membranes with different unsaturation degrees journal January 2019
PEDV enters cells through clathrin-, caveolae-, and lipid raft-mediated endocytosis and traffics via the endo-/lysosome pathway journal February 2020
Two sterols, two bilayers: insights on membrane structure from molecular dynamics text January 2017
Two sterols, two bilayers: insights on membrane structure from molecular dynamics journal May 2017
Two sterols, two bilayers: insights on membrane structure from molecular dynamics text January 2017

Figures / Tables (9)


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