Effects of pressure and the local anesthetic tetracaine on dihexadecylphosphatidylcholine bilayer membrane

How Do Membranes Respond to Pressure?

Bilayers formed by phospholipids are fundamental structures of biological membranes. The mechanical perturbation brought about by pressure significantly affects the membrane states of phospholipid bilayers. In this chapter, we focus our attention on the pressure responsivity for bilayers of some major phospholipids contained in biological membranes. At first, the membrane states and phase transitions of phospholipid bilayers depending on water content, temperature and pressure are explained by using the bilayer phase diagrams of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), which is the most familiar phospholipid in model membrane studies. Subsequently, the thermotropic and barotropic bilayer phase behavior of various kinds of phospholipids with different molecular structures is discussed from the comparison of their temperature--pressure phase diagrams to that of the DPPC bilayer. It turns out that a slight change in the molecular structure of the phospholipids produces a significant difference in the bilayer phase behavior. The systematic pressure studies on the phase behavior of the phospholipid bilayers reveal not only the pressure responsivity for the bilayers but also the role and meaning of several important phospholipids existing in real biological membranes.

Thermotropic and barotropic phase transitions in bilayer membranes of ether-linked phospholipids with varying alkyl chain lengths

The bilayer phase transitions of a series of ether-linked phospholipids, 1,2-dialkylphosphatidylcholines containing linear saturated alkyl chain (C(n)=12, 14, 16 and 18), were observed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) under ambient pressure and light-transmittance measurements under high pressure. The thermodynamic quantities of the pre- and main-transitions for the ether-linked PC bilayer membranes were calculated and compared with those of a series of ester-linked PCs, 1,2-diacylphosphatidylcholines. The thermodynamic quantities of the main transition for the ether-linked PC bilayers showed distinct dependence on alkyl-chain length and were slightly different from those of the ester-linked PC bilayers. From the comparison of thermodynamic quantities for the main transition between both PC bilayers, we revealed that the attractive interaction in the gel phase for the ether-linked PC bilayers is weaker than that for the ester-linked PC bilayers. Regarding the pretransition, although changes in enthalpy and entropy for both PC bilayers were comparable to each other, the volume changes of the ether-linked PC bilayers roughly doubled those of the ester-linked PC bilayers. The larger volume change results from the smallest partial molar volume of the ether-linked PC molecule in the interdigitated gel phase. Further, we constructed the temperature-pressure phase diagrams for the ether-linked PC bilayers by using the phase-transition data. The region of the interdigitated gel phase in the phase diagrams was extended by applying pressure and by increasing the alkyl-chain length of the molecule. Comparing the phase diagrams with those for the ester-linked PC bilayers, it was proved that the phase behavior of the ester-linked PC bilayers under high temperature and pressure is almost equivalent to that of the ether-linked PC bilayers in the vicinity of ambient pressure.

An index of lipid phase diagrams

There is a growing awareness of the utility of lipid phase behavior data in studies of membrane-related phenomena. Such miscibility information is commonly reported in the form of temperature-composition (T-C) phase diagrams. The current index is a conduit to the relevant literature. It lists lipid phase diagrams, their components and conditions of measurement, and complete bibliographic information. The main focus of the index is on lipids of membrane origin where water is the dispersing medium. However, it also includes records on acylglycerols, fatty acids, cationic lipids, and detergent-containing systems. The miscibility of synthetic and natural lipids with other lipids, with water, and with biomolecules (proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, etc.) and non-biological materials (drugs, anesthetics, organic solvents, etc.) is within the purview of the index. There are 2188 phase diagram records in the index, the bulk (81%) of which refers to binary (two-component) T-C phase diagrams. The remainder is made up of more complex (ternary, quaternary) systems, pressure-T phase diagrams, and other more exotic miscibility studies. The index covers the period from 1965 through to July, 2001.

Solubilization study of local anesthetics into sodium dodecyl sulfate micelle using anesthetic cation selective electrodes

The free concentrations of local anesthetic cations in equilibrium with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelle which solubilized the anesthetic were determined by using ion-selective electrodes sensitive to local anesthetics, procaine (PC), lidocaine (LC), and mepivacaine (MC). Solubilizate distribution between water and SDS micelle was analyzed by means of the stepwise mass-action model. Association constant, K(1), was found to depend upon the anesthetic concentration, which decreased exponentially as the concentration of free anesthetic increased. Therefore, K(1) should include the interaction function &phi;(A) as K(1)=K(int)exp{-&phi;(A)} where K(int) is an intrinsic association constant. &phi;(A) is an increasing function of the anesthetic concentration, which means that occupation of a solubilization site by a local anesthetic cation makes sequential solubilization more difficult. The binding affinity of an anesthetic with SDS micelle increased in the following order PC<LC<MC.The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of mixed micelle was determined as a function of the concentration of free anesthetic. The CMC decreased with an increasing amount of anesthetics solubilized. All the anesthetic compositions in the micelle calculated thermodynamically from the CMC data were larger than the corresponding ones in the aqueous phase. Although the local anesthetics used here do not form micelles by themselves, the CMC vs composition curve can be regarded as a part of a micellar phase diagram showing the negative azeotropic behavior, which reflects the attractive interaction between the anionic surfactant micelle and the local anesthetic cation.

Partitioning of uncharged local anesthetic benzocaine into model biomembranes

The partitioning of uncharged local anesthetic benzocaine (BzC) into molecular aggregates formed by cationic surfactant decylammonium chloride (DeAC) and phospholipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) was studied from the surface tension and light transmittance measurements. The quantities concerning the partitioning of BzC, the compositions of BzC in the surface-adsorbed film and micelle and three kinds of differential partition coefficients corresponding to phase transitions of the DPPC bilayer membrane were evaluated from thermodynamic analysis of the experimental data. The surface-adsorbed film and micelle were more abundant in BzC than the aqueous solution and significantly large differential partition coefficients for the DPPC membranes were observed. The results clearly showed that the BzC molecules greatly partitioned into hydrophobic environments produced by surfactant-monolayer and phospholipid-bilayer membranes. The partitioning behavior of BzC was also compared with that of charged local anesthetic procaine hydrochloride (PC.HCl). It was shown that the PC.HCl molecule did not or hardly partition into such hydrophobic environments. The contrasting results of the partitioning between BzC and PC.HCl are attributable to the drastic decrease of hydrophilicity of BzC due to the lacking of ionic polar head group in comparison with PC.HCl.

Effects of high hydrostatic pressures on living cells: a consequence of the properties of macromolecules and macromolecule-associated water

Sixty percent of the Earth's biomass is found in the sea, at depths greater than 1000 m, i.e., at hydrostatic pressures higher than 100 atm. Still more surprising is the fact that living cells can reversibly withstand pressure shifts of 1000 atm. One explanation lies in the properties of cellular water. Water forms a very thin film around macromolecules, with a heterogeneous structure that is an image of the heterogeneity of the macromolecular surface. The density of water in contact with macromolecules reflects the physical properties of their different domains. Therefore, any macromolecular shape variations involving the reorganization of water and concomitant density changes are sensitive to pressure (Le Chatelier's principle). Most of the pressure-induced changes to macromolecules are reversible up to 2000 atm. Both the effects of pressure shifts on living cells and the characteristics of pressure-adapted species are opening new perspectives on fundamental problems such as regulation and adaptation.