Groves J T, Boxer S G, McConnell H M
Department of Chemistry, Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-5080, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Feb 3;95(3):935-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.3.935.
Electric fields can induce lateral reorganization of lipids in fluid bilayer membranes. The resulting concentration profiles readily are observed in planar-supported bilayers by epifluorescence microscopy. When a fluorescently labeled lipid was used to probe the field-induced separation of cardiolipin from egg-phosphatidylcholine, an enhanced sensitivity to the electric field was observed that is attributed to a critical demixing effect. A thermodynamic model of the system was used to analyze the results. The observed concentration profiles can be understood if the lipid mixture has a critical temperature equal to 75 degrees K. The steady-state distribution of lipids under the influence of an electric field is very sensitive to demixing effects, even at temperatures well above the critical temperature for spontaneous phase separation, and this may have significant consequences for organization and structural changes in natural cell membranes.
电场可诱导流体双层膜中脂质的横向重组。通过落射荧光显微镜很容易在平面支撑双层膜中观察到由此产生的浓度分布。当使用荧光标记的脂质来探测电场诱导的心磷脂与卵磷脂酰胆碱的分离时,观察到对电场的敏感性增强,这归因于临界混合效应。使用该系统的热力学模型来分析结果。如果脂质混合物的临界温度等于75开尔文,则可以理解观察到的浓度分布。即使在远高于自发相分离临界温度的温度下,电场影响下脂质的稳态分布对混合效应也非常敏感,这可能对天然细胞膜的组织和结构变化产生重大影响。