Conformational analysis of the polar head group in phosphatidylcholine bilayers: a structural change induced by cations.

The conformation of the polar head group of phosphatidylcholine in a bilayer in the liquid-crystalline state was deduced by analyzing the deuterium quadrupole splittings of the choline group and the phosphorus chemical shift anisotropy of the phosphate group in combination with the restriction of the choline conformation determined in laser Raman studies. The latter efficiently reduced the number of candidates for the actual conformation. A family of conformations was obtained for both the dynamic-structure and rigid-structure models, respectively. The polar head group is oriented roughly parallel to the membrane surface in both models. Furthermore, they are close to conformation A of the crystal structure of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. The dynamic-structure model was concluded to be more reasonable in view of the fact that the polar head-group structures in most crystals comprise two conformations, which are nearly mirror images of each other. Conformational analysis was also carried out for the polar head group in the presence of multivalent cations. A possible conformational change of the polar head group induced by cations is discussed in the light of the present results.