Critical temperatures and a critical chain length in saturated diacylphosphatidylcholines: calorimetric, ultrasonic and Monte Carlo simulation study of chain-melting/ordering in aqueous lipid dispersions

A permeability transition in liver mitochondria and liposomes induced by α,ω-dioic acids and Ca(2+)

The article examines the molecular mechanism of the Ca(2+)-dependent cyclosporin A (CsA)-insensitive permeability transition in rat liver mitochondria induced by α,ω-dioic acids. The addition of α,ω-hexadecanedioic acid (HDA) to Ca(2+)-loaded liver mitochondria was shown to induce a high-amplitude swelling of the organelles, a drop of membrane potential and the release of Ca(2+) from the matrix, the effects being insensitive to CsA. The experiments with liposomes loaded with sulforhodamine B (SRB) revealed that, like palmitic acid (PA), HDA was able to cause permeabilization of liposomal membranes. However, the kinetics of HDA- and PA-induced release of SRB from liposomes was different, and HDA was less effective than PA in the induction of SRB release. Using the method of ultrasound interferometry, we also showed that the addition of Ca(2+) to HDA-containing liposomes did not change the phase state of liposomal membranes-in contrast to what was observed when Ca(2+) was added to PA-containing vesicles. It was suggested that HDA/Ca(2+)- and PA/Ca(2+)-induced permeability transition occurs by different mechanisms. Using the method of dynamic light scattering, we further revealed that the addition of Ca(2+) to HDA-containing liposomes induced their aggregation/fusion. Apparently, these processes result in a partial release of SRB due to the formation of fusion pores. The possibility that this mechanism underlies the HDA/Ca(2+)-induced permeability transition of the mitochondrial membrane is discussed.

Phase transitions and spatially ordered counterion association in ionic-lipid membranes: theory versus experiment

Aqueous dispersions of phosphatidylglycerol (PG) lipids may present an anomalous chain-melting transition at low ionic strengths, as seen by different experimental techniques such as calorimetry or light scattering. The anomaly disappears at high ionic strengths or for longer acyl-chain lengths. In this article, we use a statistical model for the bilayer that distinguishes both lipid chain and headgroup states in order to compare model and experimental thermotropic and electrical properties. The effective van der Waals interactions among hydrophobic chains compete with the electrostatic repulsions between polar headgroups, which may be ionized (counterion dissociated) or electrically neutral (associated with counterions). Electric degrees of freedom introduce new thermotropic charge-ordered phases in which headgroup charges may be spatially ordered, depending on the electrolyte ionic strength, introducing a new rationale for experimental data on PGs. The thermal phases presented by the model for different chain lengths, at fixed ionic strength, compare well with an experimental phase diagram constructed on the basis of differential scanning calorimetry profiles. In the case of dispersions of DMPG (dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol) with added monovalent salt, the model properties reproduce the main features displayed by data from differential scanning calorimetry as well as the characteristic profile for the degree of ionization of the bilayer surface across the anomalous transition region, obtained from the theoretical interpretation of electrokinetic (conductivity and electrophoretic mobility) measurements.

Phase transitions and spatially ordered counterion association in ionic-lipid membranes: a statistical model

We propose a statistical model to account for the gel-fluid anomalous phase transitions in charged bilayer- or lamellae-forming ionic lipids. The model Hamiltonian comprises effective attractive interactions to describe neutral-lipid membranes as well as the effect of electrostatic repulsions of the discrete ionic charges on the lipid headgroups. The latter can be counterion dissociated (charged) or counterion associated (neutral), while the lipid acyl chains may be in gel (low-temperature or high-lateral-pressure) or fluid (high-temperature or low-lateral-pressure) states. The system is modeled as a lattice gas with two distinct particle types--each one associated, respectively, with the polar-headgroup and the acyl-chain states--which can be mapped onto an Ashkin-Teller model with the inclusion of cubic terms. The model displays a rich thermodynamic behavior in terms of the chemical potential of counterions (related to added salt concentration) and lateral pressure. In particular, we show the existence of semidissociated thermodynamic phases related to the onset of charge order in the system. This type of order stems from spatially ordered counterion association to the lipid headgroups, in which charged and neutral lipids alternate in a checkerboard-like order. Within the mean-field approximation, we predict that the acyl-chain order-disorder transition is discontinuous, with the first-order line ending at a critical point, as in the neutral case. Moreover, the charge order gives rise to continuous transitions, with the associated second-order lines joining the aforementioned first-order line at critical end points. We explore the thermodynamic behavior of some physical quantities, like the specific heat at constant lateral pressure and the degree of ionization, associated with the fraction of charged lipid headgroups.