Saturation with cholesterol increases vertical order and smoothes the surface of the phosphatidylcholine bilayer: a molecular simulation study. Biochim Biophys Acta 2012 Mar;1818(3):520-9
Date
11/09/2011Pubmed ID
22062420Pubmed Central ID
PMC3273590DOI
10.1016/j.bbamem.2011.10.023Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84855733493 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 45 CitationsAbstract
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a mono-cis-unsaturated 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) bilayer and a POPC bilayer containing 50mol% cholesterol (POPC-Chol50) were carried out for 200ns to compare the spatial organizations of the pure POPC bilayer and the POPC bilayer saturated with Chol. The results presented here indicate that saturation with Chol significantly narrows the distribution of vertical positions of the center-of-mass of POPC molecules and POPC atoms in the bilayer. In the POPC-Chol50 bilayer, the same moieties of the lipid molecules are better aligned at a given bilayer depth, forming the following clearly separated membrane regions: the polar headgroup, the rigid core consisting of steroid rings and upper fragments of the acyl chains, and the fluid hydrocarbon core consisting of Chol chains and the lower fragments of POPC chains. The membrane surface of the POPC-Chol50 bilayer is smooth. The results have biological significance because the POPC-Chol50 bilayer models the bulk phospholipid portion of the fiber-cell membrane in the eye lens. It is hypothesized that in the eye lens cholesterol-induced smoothing of the membrane surface decreases light-scattering and helps to maintain lens transparency.
Author List
Plesnar E, Subczynski WK, Pasenkiewicz-Gierula MAuthor
Witold K. Subczynski PhD Professor in the Biophysics department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
CholesterolLipid Bilayers
Models, Chemical
Phosphatidylcholines
