Studies on the hydrogen belts of membranes: II. Non-electrolyte permeability of liposomes of diester, diether, and dialkyl phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol.

We have postulated the existence of lipid-lipid and protein-lipid hydrogen bonding in the hydrogen belts of membranes, i.e., the regions of hydrogen bond acceptors (carbonyl oxygens of esters and amides) and hydrogen bond donors (hydroxyls of cholesterol, sphingosine, proteins, water). To assess the possible effects of modifications of the hydrogen belts on membrane permeability, we prepared a diester phosphatidylcholine and two analogs lacking carbonyl oxygens, a diether and a dialkyl phosphatidylcholine, care being taken to synthesize lipids of identical efficient hydrophobic chain length. Relative permeation rates for glycerol and urea were determined by osmotic swelling of liposomes containing the phospholipids alone or with an equimolar quantity of cholesterol, with 4 mole % of dioleylphosphate added. The permeation rates of both solutes were similar for all three lipids, with Arrhenius activation energies deltaE* around 16 kcal/mole. Cholesterol reduced the permeability of all three membranes. The activation energy deltaE* of permeation did not change for diester and dialkyl phosphatidylcholine with cholesterol, but was lower by about 5 kcal/mole for the diether lipid with cholesterol. This corresponds to a reduction in the entropy of activation deltadeltaS*approximately-16 cal/mole/degree. We interpret the results as supporting the hypothesis of interaction between cholesterol hydroxyl and phospholipid carbonyl.