Effects of lipid peroxidation on surface charge density of the porcine intestinal brush-border membranes.

The effects of lipid peroxidation on the surface charge density of the porcine intestinal brush-border membranes were studied using an oxygen-radical-generating system consisting of ascorbic acid, ferrous ion and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tert-BuOOH). Changes in the membrane surface charge density were monitored using a fluorescent dye, 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate (ANS). The incubation of the membranes with ascorbic acid/Fe2+/tert-BuOOH resulted in a decrease of the fluorescence intensity of the ANS-membrane complex with a red-shift in the emission maximum, depending on the hydroperoxide concentration and the incubation time. The kinetic studies on ANS-binding showed that the apparent dissociation constant of ANS-membrane complex decreased by treatment with ascorbic acid/Fe2+/tert-BuOOH. Similar results were also obtained by treatment of the membranes with other oxidizing systems, hematin/tert-BuOOH and dipyridyl/Fe2+/tert-BuOOH. These results proposed the possibility that lipid peroxidation of the membranes causes an increase of the positive charge on the membrane surface. The results of the dependence of the ionic strength with increasing KCl concentrations in the medium upon the ANS-binding affinity for the membranes further supported this interpretation.