Cholesterol-Dependent Nanomechanical Stability of Phase-Segregated Multicomponent Lipid Bilayers

Investigating the Structure of Multicomponent Gel-Phase Lipid Bilayers.

Single- and multicomponent lipid bilayers of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC), 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DSPC), isostearyl isostearate, and heptadecanoyl heptadecanoate in the gel phase are studied via molecular dynamics simulations. It is shown that the structural properties of multicomponent bilayers can deviate strongly from the structures of the...

Cholesterol perturbs lipid bilayers nonuniversally.

Cholesterol is well known to modulate the physical properties of biomembranes. Using modern x-ray scattering methods, we have studied the effects of cholesterol on the bending modulus K(C), the thickness D(HH), and the orientational order parameter S(xray) of lipid bilayers. We find that the effects are different for at least three classes of phospholipids characterized by different numbers of ...

Volumetric stability of lipid bilayers.

In agreement with recent reports, a commercial densimeter has yielded a gradual decrease in lipid molecular volume of DPPC multilamellar vesicle dispersions in the gel phase upon repeated thermal cycling between 10 °C and 50 °C. The considerable size of this decrease would have significant implications for the physical chemistry of biomembranes. In contrast, neutral buoyancy measurements perfor...

Formation of supported lipid bilayers containing phase-segregated domains and their interaction with gold nanoparticles

Nanoscale Calorimetry Reveals Higher Stability of Cholesterol Induced Nanoscale Domains in Lipid Bilayers

Membranes of all cells contain a significant fraction of phospholipids arranged in a self-assembled bilayer. This lipid bilayer forms a robust barrier to ions, proteins and other molecules, and separates the inside of the cell from the outside (plasma membrane), or compartmentalizes the cells (mitochondria). Embedded in the lipid bilayers are a large variety of glycoproteins, globular proteins,...