Effects of cations and polyamines on the aggregation and fusion of phosphatidylserine membranes.

Effects of various metal cations and polyamines on aggregation and fusion of phosphatidylserine vesicles and their associated physicochemical properties (such as surface tension and vesicle electrophoretic mobility) have been studied. It was found that metal polycations and hydrogen ion caused an increase in the surface tension of a phosphatidylserine monolayer, whereas the polyamines and other monovalent cations did not increase the surface tension of the membrane appreciably. All cations used affected the vesicle mobility roughly in the order of the number of their valencies and linearly with respect to the logarithm of their concentrations of ions; vesicle surface charge densities are reduced by adsorption and screening of the counter ions depending on their valencies and concentrations. The degree of aggregation of lipid vesicles parallels somewhat that of the reduction of vesicle electrophoretic mobilities. However, the degree of membrane fusion induced by these cations parallels that of the increase in surface tension of the membranes induced by these cations.