Design, synthesis and characterization of artificial phospholipids as model membrane receptors for specific binding of rabbit C-reactive protein

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase reactive protein, which has been shown to specifically bind to phosphorylcholine (PC) and phosphorylethanoa mine (PE) moieties in the presence of calcium. In order to investigate the effect of steric hindrance on the specific binding of CRP to membranes, we designed and synthesized six phospholipids, each containing a long-arm spac er of 3, 6 or 8 atoms between the head group and hydrophobic tail. By mixin g synthesized lipids and natural lipids the ligand-containing monolayers we re prepared, which have PC or PE groups protruding out of the membrane surf ace. To characterize of the synthesized phospholipids, the thickness of the lipid monolayers was measured by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique , the phase behavior of the lipid monolayer at air/water interface was stud ied by pressure-area analysis, and the specific binding of rabbit C-reactiv e protein to the synthesized lipid containing membranes was studied by imag ing ellipsometry. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Limited. All rights reserved.