Chong Parkson Lee-Gau, Zhu Weiwei, Venegas Berenice
Department of Biochemistry, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009 Jan;1788(1):2-11. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2008.10.010. Epub 2008 Oct 29.
This article summarizes the current view of the sterol superlattice model, which provides a microscopic and molecular description of lateral structure of membranes containing cholesterol, ergosterol, or dehydroergosterol. Special attention is focused on the important, but not yet widely recognized, lessons learned from the studies of sterol superlattices. The major points are: (1) Fine details of cholesterol lateral organization depend on the materials and methods for membrane preparation and on the membrane type. (2) Cholesterol content is extremely important in determining cholesterol lateral organization, and the effect of cholesterol content on membranes should be examined using small cholesterol mole fraction increments. (3) Samples with high vesicle concentrations may need a long time to form sterol superlattices; however, long vesicle incubation in model membrane studies and the existence of sterol superlattice in cells are not mutually exclusive. (4) An increase in cholesterol content does not always condense membranes or make membranes more ordered. (5) The interfaces between regular and irregular regions could play an important role in membrane activities. The last part of this article discusses the use of the knowledge gained from model membrane studies of cholesterol superlattice to investigate membrane lateral organization in cells and to develop new liposome applications.
本文总结了甾醇超晶格模型的当前观点，该模型对含有胆固醇、麦角固醇或脱氢麦角固醇的膜的横向结构进行了微观和分子层面的描述。特别关注的是从甾醇超晶格研究中获得的重要但尚未得到广泛认可的经验教训。要点如下：（1）胆固醇横向组织的精细细节取决于膜制备的材料和方法以及膜的类型。（2）胆固醇含量在决定胆固醇横向组织方面极为重要，应使用小的胆固醇摩尔分数增量来研究胆固醇含量对膜的影响。（3）高囊泡浓度的样品可能需要很长时间才能形成甾醇超晶格；然而，在模型膜研究中长时间的囊泡孵育与细胞中甾醇超晶格的存在并不相互排斥。（4）胆固醇含量的增加并不总是使膜凝聚或使膜更有序。（5）规则区域和不规则区域之间的界面可能在膜活动中起重要作用。本文的最后一部分讨论了利用从胆固醇超晶格的模型膜研究中获得的知识来研究细胞中的膜横向组织以及开发新的脂质体应用。
