Shear and compression rheology of Langmuir monolayers of natural ceramides: solid character and plasticity

Structural changes in layers of lipid mixtures at low surface tensions

Layers of pulmonary lipids on an aqueous substrate at non-equilibrium conditions can decrease the surface tension of water to quite low values. This is connected with different relaxation processes occurring at the interface and the associated changes in the surface layer structure. Results of measurements by the combination of methods like surface rheology, ellipsometry, Brewster angle microscopy, and IRRAS for spread layers of lipid mixtures open a possibility to specify the dynamics of structural changes at conditions close to the physiological state. At sufficiently low surface tension values (below 5 mN/m) significant changes in the ellipsometric signal were observed for pure DPPC layers, which can be related to a transition from 2D to 3D structures caused by the layer folding. The addition of other lipids can accelerate the relaxation processes connected with squeezing-out of molecules or multilayer stacks formation hampering thereby a decrease of surface tension down to low values corresponding to the folding of the monolayer.

Mitochondrial membrane models built from native lipid extracts: Interfacial and transport properties

The mitochondrion is an essential organelle enclosed by two membranes whose functionalities depend on their very specific protein and lipid compositions. Proteins from the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) are specialized in mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy, whereas proteins of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) have dedicated functions in cellular respiration and apoptosis. As for lipids, the OMM is enriched in glycerophosphatidyl choline but cardiolipin is exclusively found within the IMM. Though the lipid topology and distribution of the OMM and IMM are known since more than four decades, little is known about the interfacial and dynamic properties of the IMM and OMM lipid extracts. Here we build monolayers, supported bilayers and giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) of native OMM and IMM lipids extracts from porcine heart. Additionally, we perform a comparative analysis on the interfacial, phase immiscibility and mechanical properties of both types of extract. Our results show that IMM lipids form more expanded and softer membranes than OMM lipids, allowing a better understanding of the physicochemical and biophysical properties of mitochondrial membranes.

Inimitable Impacts of Ceramides on Lipid Rafts Formed in Artificial and Natural Cell Membranes

Ceramide is the simplest precursor of sphingolipids and is involved in a variety of biological functions ranging from apoptosis to the immune responses. Although ceramide is a minor constituent of plasma membranes, it drastically increases upon cellular stimulation. However, the mechanistic link between ceramide generation and signal transduction remains unknown. To address this issue, the effect of ceramide on phospholipid membranes has been examined in numerous studies. One of the most remarkable findings of these studies is that ceramide induces the coalescence of membrane domains termed lipid rafts. Thus, it has been hypothesised that ceramide exerts its biological activity through the structural alteration of lipid rafts. In the present article, we first discuss the characteristic hydrogen bond functionality of ceramides. Then, we showed the impact of ceramide on the structures of artificial and cell membranes, including the coalescence of the pre-existing lipid raft into a large patch called a signal platform. Moreover, we proposed a possible structure of the signal platform, in which sphingomyelin/cholesterol-rich and sphingomyelin/ceramide-rich domains coexist. This structure is considered to be beneficial because membrane proteins and their inhibitors are separately compartmentalised in those domains. Considering the fact that ceramide/cholesterol content regulates the miscibility of those two domains in model membranes, the association and dissociation of membrane proteins and their inhibitors might be controlled by the contents of ceramide and cholesterol in the signal platform.

Clearly Detectable, Kinetically Restricted Solid-Solid Phase Transition in cis-Ceramide Monolayers

Sphingosine [(2 S,3 R,4 E)-2-amino-4-octadecene-1,3-diol] is the most common sphingoid base in mammals. Ceramides are N-acyl sphingosines. Numerous small variations on this canonical structure are known, including the 1-deoxy, the 4,5-dihydro, and many others. However, whenever there is a Δ4 double bond, it adopts the trans (or E) configuration. We synthesized a ceramide containing 4 Z-sphingosine and palmitic acid ( cis-pCer) and studied its behavior in the form of monolayers extended on an air-water interface. cis-pCer acted very differently from the trans isomer in that, upon lateral compression of the monolayer, a solid-solid transition was clearly observed at a mean molecular area ≤44 Ų·molecule^-1, whose characteristics depended on the rate of compression. The solid-solid transition, as well as states of domain coexistence, could be imaged by atomic force microscopy and by Brewster-angle microscopy. Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations provided results compatible with the experimentally observed differences between the cis and trans isomers. The data can help in the exploration of other solid-solid transitions in lipids, both in vitro and in vivo, that have gone up to now undetected because of their less obvious change in surface properties along the transition, as compared to cis-pCer.

The Physical Properties of Ceramides in Membranes

Ceramides are sphingolipids containing a sphingosine or a related base, to which a fatty acid is linked through an amide bond. When incorporated into a lipid bilayer, ceramides exhibit a number of properties not shared by almost any other membrane lipid: Ceramides ( a) are extremely hydrophobic and thus cannot exist in suspension in aqueous media; ( b) increase the molecular order (rigidity) of phospholipids in membranes; ( c) give rise to lateral phase separation and domain formation in phospholipid bilayers; ( d) possess a marked intrinsic negative curvature that facilitates formation of inverted hexagonal phases; ( e) make bilayers and cell membranes permeable to small and large (i.e., protein-size) solutes; and ( f) promote transmembrane (flip-flop) lipid motion. Unfortunately, there is hardly any link between the physical studies reviewed here and the mass of biological and clinical studies on the effects of ceramides in health and disease.

Emergence of Strong Nonlinear Viscoelastic Response of Semifluorinated Alkane Monolayers

Viscoelasticity of monolayers of fluorocarbon/hydrocarbon tetrablock amphiphiles di(FnHm) ((C_nF_2n+1CH₂)(C_m-2H_2m-3)CH-CH(C_nF_2n+1CH₂)(C_m-2H_2m-3)) was characterized by interfacial dilational rheology under periodic oscillation of the moving barriers at the air/water interface. Because the frequency dispersion of the response function indicated that di(FnHm) form two-dimensional gels at the interface, the viscosity and elasticity of di(FnHm) were first analyzed with the classical Kelvin-Voigt model. However, the global shape of stress response functions clearly indicated the emergence of a nonlinearity even at very low surface pressures (π ≈ 5 mN/m) and small strain amplitudes (u₀ = 1%). The Fourier-transformed response function of higher harmonics exhibited a clear increase in the intensity only from odd modes, corresponding to the nonlinear elastic component under reflection because of mirror symmetry. The emergence of strong nonlinear viscoelasticity of di(FnHm) at low surface pressures and strain amplitudes is highly unique compared to the nonlinear viscoelasticity of other surfactant systems reported previously, suggesting a large potential of such fluorocarbon/hydrocarbon molecules to modulate the mechanics of interfaces using the self-assembled domains of small molecules.

The enzymatic sphingomyelin to ceramide conversion increases the shear membrane viscosity at the air-water interface

Whereas most of lipids have viscous properties and they do not have significant elastic features, ceramides behave as very rigid solid assemblies, displaying viscoelastic behaviour at physiological temperatures. The present review addresses the surface rheology of lipid binary mixtures made of sphingomyelin and ceramide. However, ceramide is formed by the enzymatic cleavage of sphingomyelin in cell plasma membranes. The consequences of the enzymatically-driven ceramide formation involve mechanical alterations of the embedding membrane. Here, an increase on surface shear viscosity was evidenced upon enzymatic incubation of sphingomyelin monolayers. The overall rheological data are discussed in terms of the current knowledge of the thermotropic behaviour of ceramide-containing model membranes.

The many faces (and phases) of ceramide and sphingomyelin II - binary mixtures

A rather widespread idea on the functional importance of sphingolipids in cell membranes refers to the occurrence of ordered domains enriched in sphingomyelin and ceramide that are largely assumed to exist irrespective of the type of N-acyl chain in the sphingolipid. Ceramides and sphingomyelins are the simplest kind of two-chained sphingolipids and show a variety of species, depending on the fatty acyl chain length, hydroxylation, and unsaturation. Abundant evidences have shown that variations of the N-acyl chain length in ceramides and sphingomyelins markedly affect their phase state, interfacial elasticity, surface topography, electrostatics, and miscibility, and that even the usually conceived "condensed" sphingolipids and many of their mixtures may exhibit liquid-like expanded states. Their lateral miscibility properties are subtlety regulated by those chemical differences. Even between ceramides with different acyl chain length, their partial miscibility is responsible for a rich two-dimensional structural variety that impacts on the membrane properties at the mesoscale level. In this review, we will discuss the miscibility properties of ceramide, sphingomyelin, and glycosphingolipids that differ in their N-acyl or oligosaccharide chains. This work is a second part that accompanies a previous overview of the properties of membranes formed by pure ceramides or sphingomyelins, which is also included in this Special Issue.

Cholesterol interactions with ceramide and sphingomyelin

Sphingolipids contain in their polar heads chemical groups allowing them to establish a complex network of H-bonds (through different OH and NHgroups) with other lipids in the bilayer. In the recent years the specific interaction of sphingomyelin (SM) with cholesterol (Chol) has been examined, largely in the context of the "lipid raft" hypothesis. Formation of SM-Ceramide (Cer) complexes, proposed to exist in cell membranes in response to stress, has also been described. More recently, a delicate balance of phase formation and transformation in ternary mixtures of SM, Chol and Cer, with mutual displacement of Chol and Cer from their interaction with SM is considered to exist. In addition, data demonstrating direct Chol-Cer interaction are becoming available.

The Rheological Properties of Lipid Monolayers Modulate the Incorporation of l-Ascorbic Acid Alkyl Esters

In this work, we tested the hypothesis that the incorporation of amphiphilic drugs into lipid membranes may be regulated by their rheological properties. For this purpose, two members of the l-ascorbic acid alkyl esters family (ASCn) were selected, ASC16 and ASC14, which have different rheological properties when organized at the air/water interface. They are lipophilic forms of vitamin C used in topical pharmacological preparations. The effect of the phase state of the host lipid membranes on ASCn incorporation was explored using Langmuir monolayers. Films of pure lipids with known phase states have been selected, showing liquid-expanded, liquid-condensed, and solid phases as well as pure cholesterol films in liquid-ordered state. We also tested ternary and quaternary mixed films that mimic the properties of cholesterol containing membranes and of the stratum corneum. The compressibility and shear properties of those monolayers were assessed in order to define its phase character. We found that the length of the acyl chain of the ASCn compounds induces differential changes in the rheological properties of the host membrane and subtly regulates the kinetics and extent of the penetration process. The capacity for ASCn uptake was found to depend on the phase state of the host film. The increase in surface pressure resultant after amphiphile incorporation appears to be a function of the capacity of the host membrane to incorporate such amphiphile as well as the rheological response of the film. Hence, monolayers that show a solid phase state responded with a larger surface pressure increase to the incorporation of a comparable amount of amphiphile than liquid-expanded ones. The cholesterol-containing films, including the mixture that mimics stratum corneum, allowed a very scarce ASCn uptake independently of the membrane diffusional properties. This suggests an important contribution of Cho on the maintenance of the barrier function of stratum corneum.

Thermomechanical transitions of egg-ceramide monolayers

Ceramides have unique biophysical properties. Their high melting temperature and their ability to form lateral domains have converted ceramides into the paradigm of rigid lipids. Here, using shear surface rheology of egg-ceramide Langmuir monolayers, a solid to fluid transition was evidenced as a vanishing shear rigidity at lower temperatures than the lipid melting temperature. Such a mechanical transition, which depends on the lipid lateral pressure, was found in a broad range temperature (40-50 °C). The solid to fluid transition was correlated to a LC to LC+LE phase transition, as confirmed by BAM experiments. Interestingly, together with the softening transition, a supercooling process compatible with a glassy behavior was found upon freezing. A new phase scenario is then depicted that broadens the mechanical behavior of natural ceramides. The phase diversity of ceramides might have important implications in their physiological roles.

N-Acyl Chain in Ceramide and Sphingomyelin Determines Their Mixing Behavior, Phase State, and Surface Topography in Langmuir Films

Sphingolipids are membrane lipids composed by a long chain aminediol base, usually sphingosine, with a N-linked fatty acyl chain whose quality depends on the membrane type. The effect of length and unsaturation of the N-acyl chain on the mixing behavior of different sphingolipids has scarcely been studied, and in this work this issue is addressed employing Langmuir monolayers at the air-water interface, in order to assess the surface mixing in binary mixtures of different species of sphingomyelins and ceramides. The dependence on the monolayer composition of the mean molecular area, perpendicular dipole moment, domain segregation, and surface topography, as well as the film elasticity and optical thickness were studied. The results indicate that composition-dependent favorable interactions among sphingomyelin and ceramide occur as a consequence of complementary lateral packing and increased acyl chain ordering; the phase state of the components appears as a major factor determining miscibility among sphingomyelins and ceramides even in cases where the lipids have a considerable hydrocarbon chain length mismatch.

Surface shear rheology of monolayers at the surface of water

The knowledge of surface shear rheology is important to understand and model flow in systems where interfaces are present: multiphase flow, wetting, foaming and others. The topic has been investigated for more than 100 years, but the knowledge accumulated is still partial. The experimental devices used for the measurement of the viscoelastic parameters are delicate to operate and the response of the monolayers is complex, usually non-linear and time dependent. Furthermore, it is difficult to decouple from the response of the bulk liquid. Important discrepancies between microscopic and macroscopic methods were reported and remain to be clarified. The knowledge of shear properties does not suffice in general to achieve proper descriptions of the flow behavior and measurements of compression properties are needed as well. This paper presents examples taken from the literature and discusses the current level of understanding.

Surface behavior of sphingomyelins with very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and effects of their conversion to ceramides

Molecular species of sphingomyelin (SM) with nonhydroxy (n) and 2-hydroxy (h) very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n- and h-28:4, 30:5, and 32:5) abound in rat spermatogenic cells and spermatozoa. These SMs are located on the sperm head, where they are converted to the corresponding ceramides (Cer) after the completion of the acrosomal reaction, as induced in vitro. The aim of this study was to look into the surface properties of these unique SM species and how these properties change by the SM → Cer conversion. After isolation by HPLC, these SMs were organized in Langmuir films and studied alone, in combination with different proportions of Cer, and during their conversion to Cer by sphingomyelinase. Compression isotherms for all six SMs under study were compatible with a liquid-expanded (LE) state and showed large molecular areas. Only the longest SMs (n-32:5 and h-32:5 SM) underwent a phase transition upon cooling. Interestingly, the abundant h-28:4 Cer exhibited a highly compressible liquid-condensed (LC) phase compatible with a high conformational freedom of Cer molecules but with the characteristic low diffusional properties of the LC phase. In mixed films of h-28:4 SM/h-28:4 Cer, the components showed favorable mixing in the LE phase. The monolayer exhibited h-28:4 Cer-rich domains both in premixed films and when formed by the action of sphingomyelinase on pure h-28:4 SM films. Whereas the SMs from sperm behaved in a way similar to that of shorter acylated SMs, the corresponding Cers showed atypical rheological properties that may be relevant to the membrane structural rearrangements that take place on the sperm head after the completion of the acrosomal reaction.

Marangoni stresses and surface compression rheology of surfactant solutions. Achievements and problems

In the presence of soluble surfactants, the motion of liquid surfaces involves Marangoni effects. As a consequence, the surfaces exhibit elastic responses, even frequently behaving as rigid surfaces, especially at low surfactant concentration. The Marangoni effects can be conveniently quantified introducing surface viscoelastic compression parameters that characterize the mechanical response of the surface near equilibrium. Many experimental techniques allow measuring the viscoelastic parameters. However, many difficulties are encountered during the interpretation of the surface response in the various types of hydrodynamic velocity fields involved in the different techniques. The role of adsorption and desorption energy barriers appears crucial, despite the fact that little is known yet about their values. In this short review, we will present examples illustrating the different problems.

Ceramide: a simple sphingolipid with unique biophysical properties

Ceramides are involved in a variety of cellular processes and in disease. Their biological functions are thought to depend on ceramides' unique biophysical properties, which promote strong alterations of cell membrane properties and consequent triggering of signaling events. Over the last decades, efforts were made to understand the impact of ceramide on membrane biophysical features. Several studies, performed in a multitude of membrane models, address ceramides' specific interactions, the effect of their acyl chain structure and the influence of membrane lipid composition and properties on ceramide biophysical outcome. In this review, a rationale for the multiple and complex changes promoted by ceramide is provided, highlighting, on a comprehensive and critical manner, the interactions between ceramides and specific lipids and/or lipid phases. Focus is also given to the interplay between ceramide and cholesterol, particularly in lipid raft-mimicking mixtures, an issue of intense debate due to the urgent need to understand the biophysical impact of ceramide formation in models resembling the cell membrane. The implications of ceramide-induced biophysical changes on lipid-protein interactions and cell signaling are also discussed, together with the emerging evidence for the existence of ceramide-gel like domains in cellular membranes.