Ion-binding to phospholipids. Interaction of calcium and lanthanide ions with phosphatidylcholine (lecithin).

Surface chemical and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques have been used to study the interaction of Ca2+ and lanthanides with lecithins. With both methods positive reactions were detected at metal concentrations greater than 0.1 mM. 1H and 31P high-resolution NMR spectra obtained with single bilayer vesicles of lecithin were invariant up to Ca2+ concentrations of 0.1 M indicating that there is only a loose association between Ca2+ and the phospholipid. The weak interaction between Ca2+ and lecithin is confirmed by both surface chemical and NMR techniques showing that the packing of egg lecithin molecules present in bilayers does not change up to Ca2+ concentrations of about 0.1 M. The packing was also independent of pH between 1--10. Contradictory results have been reported in the literature concerning the question of Ca2+ binding to lecithins. The conflicting results are shown to have arisen from differences in the experimental conditions and differences in the sensitivity of the physical methods used by various authors to study Ca2+ -lecithin interactions. An estimate of the strength of binding and molecular details of the interaction were derived using paramagnetic lanthanides as isomorphous replacements for Ca2+. From the changes in chemical shifts induced in the presence of lanthanides an apparent binding constant KA approximately 30 l/mol was calculated at lanthanide concentrations greater than 10 mM. Using surface chemical methods it was shown that this KA is up to 10 times larger than that for Ca2+ binding. The complete assignment of the 1H NMR spectrum of lecithin, including the resonances from the relatively immobilized glycerol group, was determined to derive molecular details of the cation-lecithin interaction. From spin-lattice relaxation-time measurements and line broadening in the presence of GdCl3 it is concluded that the cations are bound to the phosphate group and that this is the only binding site. The absolute proton shifts induced by paramagnetic lanthanides depended on the nature of the ion, but the shift ratios standardised to the shift of the O3POCH2 (choline) signal were invariant throughout the lanthanide series indicating that the shifts are purely pseudocontact. In contrast the 31P shifts were found to contain significant contact contributions. These findings are consistent with a weak interaction and with the phosphate group being the binding site. The absolute shifts but not the shift ratios depended on the anion present indicating that the cation binding may be accompanied by binding of anions. Contrary to negatively charged phospholipids the interaction of lanthanides with lecithins was enhanced as the ionic strength was increased by adding NaCl. This was explained in terms of steric hindrance due to the extended conformation of the lecithin polar group.