Ll. Holte et al., NUCLEAR-MAGNETIC-RESONANCE INVESTIGATION OF HYDROCARBON CHAIN PACKINGIN BILAYERS OF POLYUNSATURATED PHOSPHOLIPIDS, Lipids, 31, 1996, pp. 199-203
H-2 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) on chain-deuterated phospholipids
has been used to study the influence of the degree of unsaturation on
lipid chain packing and on area per molecule at the lipid water inter
face. Order and motions of deuterated stearic acid in position sn-1 of
phosphatidylcholines (PC) containing 18:0, 18:1n-9, 18:2n-6, 18:3n-3,
20:4n-6, 20:5n-3, or 22:6n-3 in position sn-2 were investigated in pu
re PC and in mixtures of PC in a phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) matrix.
Results reveal that lipid packing in bilayers is mainly controlled by
packing requirements at the lipid water interface. Increasing degrees
of unsaturation lower chain order and increase area per PC molecule,
whereas inclusion of PE in model membranes has the opposite effect. Ch
ain order and motions in highly unsaturated lipid membranes are less s
ensitive to changes in temperature. Temperature sensitivity decreases
further upon incorporation of PC into a PE matrix. Unsaturation induce
s chain disordering, which may be interpreted as an increase in area p
er molecule of lipids toward the center of the bilayer. This may resul
t in a lower packing density of unsaturated lipids at the lipid water
interface. We hypothesize that these differences in lipid packing and
dynamics may influence activity of membrane proteins.