An ESR study of the anchoring of spin-labeled stearic acid in lecithin multilayers.

In egg lecithin-water lamellar phases, spin-labeled stearic acid gives two superimposed ESR spectra which are only well resolved when the temperature is greater than 30 degrees C. These two spectral components are attributed to the dissociated and non-dissociated forms of the fatty acid carboxylic group, anchored at two different positions in the polar interface constituted by the hydrated lipid polar heads. Results on such interactions of other functional groups (spin-labeled fatty ester and fatty alcohol) are also presented.     

Fatty acids diffusion in lecithin multilayers: hydration and PH effects.

The diffusion of the sodium salt of monocarboxylic fatty acids, from formate to stearate, has been studied as a function of water content and pH in lecithin--water lamellar phases. Evolution of the diffusion coefficients with increasing chain length reflects the different localizations of fatty acids in the system. From formate to butyrate, which are mainly restricted to the hydrophilic layer of the phase, diffusion rates decrease rapidly. From butyrate to stearate, fatty acids (anchored at the hydrophilic--lipophilic interface) undergo lateral diffusion and then the decrease of D with increasing chain length is much slower. The diffusion of stereate is already comparable to the diffusion of the lecithin molecule itself. The diffusion rates strongly depend upon phase hydration and pH: it is shown that both parameters control the fatty acid ionization. The variations in diffusion rates observed may be ascribed to the fact that, depending upon their state of ionization, fatty acids assume a different localization and therefore experience different interactions in the lamellar system.     

ESR studies on the orientation of cholesteryl ester in phosphatidylcholine multilayers.

The alignment of cholesteryl esters in multilayer phosphatidylcholine membranes was investigated using two spin-labelled cholesteryl esters: 10 : 3 ester (I) and 1 : 14 ester (II). The nitroxide label of I is aligned in the membrane with a very large angle of tilt (47 degrees +/- 1.5 degrees) with respect to the normal to the membrane surface; II does not show such a tilt. I gives spectra corresponding to immobilized label while II gives nearly isotropic spectra. Ascorbate treatment of the multilayers shows that the labels in I and II are not present at the phosphatidylcholine-water interphase. The data supports a 'horseshoe' configuration for the cholesteryl ester in the bilayer, with both the fatty acid chain and the cholesteryl moiety extending deep into the hydrophobic region of the membrane and with the ester linkage near the surface.     

Uniformly oriented gramicidin channels embedded in thick monodomain lecithin multilayers.

Phosphatidylcholine multilayers, containing 20% water by total sample weight and gramicidin/lipid molar ratios up to 1:40 were aligned by low temperature annealing (less than 60 degrees C) and mechanical stressing. We were able to obtain large (greater than 80 micron thick X 40 mm2 area) monodomain defect-free multilayers containing approximately 10(17) uniformly oriented gramicidin channels. The alignment of lipid multilayers was monitored by conoscopy and polarized microscopy. The smectic defects, which appeared during the alignment process, were identified and dissolved. The incorporation of gramicidin into the multilayers in the form of transmembrane channels was indicated by its circular dichroic (CD) spectrum. A well-defined CD spectrum of uniformly oriented gramicidin channels was obtained. The oriented samples will allow spectroscopic studies of the ion channel in its conducting state and diffraction studies of the channel-channel organization in the membrane.     

ESR studies on the orientation of cholesteryl ester in phosphatidylcholine multilayers

The alignment of cholesteryl esters in multilayer phosphatidylcholine membranes was investigated using two spin-labelled cholesteryl esters: 10 : 3 ester ($\text{I}$) and 1 : 14 ester ($\text{II}$). The nitroxide label of $\text{I}$ is aligned in the membrane with a very large angle of tilt (47° ± 1.5°) with respect to the normal to the membrane surface; $\text{II}$ does not show such a tilt. $\text{I}$ gives spectra corresponding to immobilized label while $\text{II}$ gives nearly isotropic spectra. Ascorbate treatment of the multilayers shows that the labels in $\text{I}$ and $\text{II}$ are not present at the phosphatidylcholine-water interphase.The data supports a ‘horseshoe’ configuration for the cholesteryl ester in the bilayer, with both the fatty acid chain and the cholesteryl moiety extending deep into the hydrophobic region of the membrane and with the ester linkage near the surface.     

An ESR study of the Mn(II)-heavy meromyosin system.

The Mn(II)-heavy meromyosin system was studied by measuring the ESR spectrum of Mn(II). The temperature dependence of the line width parameter W(1, t) of a freshly prepared sample changes at around 7-10 degrees C, where W(1, t) is the reciprocal of the peak-to-peak height of the lowest magnetic field component of the hyperfine structure. It is shown that the change in the slope of W(1, t) at 7-10 degrees C is due to a change in the structure of Mn(II)-heavy meromyosin or a change in the interaction between Mn(II) and heavy meromyosin without ATP. This result is in accord with the recently reported observations that heavy meromysin ATPase activity showed different temperature dependence above and below 10 degrees C in the presence of Mn(II). The characteristics of the spectrum of the Mn(II)-heavy meromyosin system in the liquid state between 2 degrees C and 20 degrees C are compared with those of a frozen sample of Mn(II)-heavy meromyosin in a low temperature region (-50-0 degrees C) and with those of the lyophilized material. The forbidden transitions are observed, and hence the zero field splitting parameter can be obtained. It is 115 +/- 15 gauss at -50 degrees C, and decreases with increase of the temperature to 70 +/- 15 gauss at 20 degrees C.     

An ESR study of the nitroxide radical of pentastarch-conjugated deferoxamine

At higher concentrations, deferoxamine (DFO) reacts with hydroxyl radicals to produce a stable nitroxide free radical. Formation and decay of this nitroxide radical was investigated and compared with a novel modified pentastarch conjugate of DFO (MPS-DFO). Photolytic generation of hydroxyl radicals from H2O2 in the presence of free DFO produced a nitroxide radical with coupling constants of aN = 8.0 G and aH = 6.5 G. Under the same experimental conditions, equimolar concentrations of MPS-DFO produced an ESR signal of reduced intensity while iron-saturated MPS-DFO produced no signal. Incubation of free DFO with pentastarch (i.e., without conjugation) greatly decreased the intensity of the nitroxide radical signal. Using a spin-trapping technique with 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO), the pentastarch vehicle was shown to inhibit the DMPO-OH adduct formation. The decay of the DFO nitroxide radical decayed with a second-order rate constant while that of MPS-DFO decayed with a first-order rate constant. Thus, a novel derivative of DFO may provide some additional benefit in limiting DFO nitroxide radical formation and might explain the reported reduced in vivo toxicity of MPS-DFO relative to free DFO.     

Localization of dolichols in phospholipid membranes. An ESR spin label study

We have used ESR methods employing spin-labeled stearates to investigate the effects of dolichol on the motion of lipid molecules in phospholipid membranes of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. The ESR spectra show that the presence of dolichol affects the motion of the spin probes at carbon-16, but not at carbon-5. Similar results are obtained with phospholipid membranes comprising only phosphatidylcholine. It is suggested that dolichol molecules are present mainly in the lipid core region of phospholipid membranes.     

Vanadyl-induced Fenton-like reaction in RNA. An ESR and spin trapping study.

Vanadyl (VO2+) complexed to RNA reacts with hydrogen peroxide in a Fenton-like manner producing hydroxyl radicals (.OH). The hydroxyl radicals can be spin trapped with 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-1-oxide (DMPO) forming the DMPO-OH spin adduct. In addition, in the presence of ethanol the formation of the hydroxyethyl radical adduct of DMPO (DMPO-ETOH) confirms the production of hydroxyl radicals by the RNA/VO2+ complex. When the reaction between the RNA/VO2+ complex and H2O2 is carried out in the presence of the spin trap 2-methyl-2-nitrosopropane (MNP), radicals produced in the reaction of .OH with RNA are trapped. Base hydrolysis of the MNP-RNA adducts (pH 12) followed by a reduction in the pH to pH 7 after hydrolysis is complete, yields an MNP adduct with a well-resolved ESR spectrum identical to the ESR spectrum obtained from analogous experiments with poly U. The ESR spectrum consists of a triplet of sextets (aN = 1.48 mT, a beta N = 0.25 mT and a beta H = 0.14 mT), indicating that the unpaired nitroxide electron interacts with the nuclei of a beta-nitrogen and beta-hydrogen. The results suggest that the .OH generated in the RNA/VO2+ reaction with H2O2 add to the C(5) carbon of uracil forming a C(6) carbon centered radical. This radical is subsequently spin trapped by MNP.     

Nuclear magnetic resonance studies of amphiphile hydration: Effects of the gel-to-liquid crystalline phase transition on the hydration of dioleoyl lecithin

The hydration of dioleoyl lecithin (DOL) and dimyristoyl lecithin (DML) has been measured as a function of temperature between ?15 and ?30 °C, using low-temperature proton magnetic resonance. The hydration of DOL is considerably higher than that of DML. We detect 9 mol of unfrozen water/mol of phospholipid at ?25 °C (our “standard” temperature) for DOL, and only 6 mol of water/mol of phospholipid for DML. The gel-to-liquid crystalline phase transition in DOL centered at ca. ?19 °C is manifested by a 70% increase in hydration for both vesicles and dispersions. Preparations of either DML vesicles or vesicles of DOL which contain 33 mol% cholesterol would not be expected to undergo this phase transition, and the hydration increase observed for these preparations in the same range of temperature is less than 20%.     

Theoretical study of hydration of RNA.

The hydration phenomena of A-RNA double helix and the anticodon loop of transfer RNA have been theoretically investigated using the empirical potential energy functions. The hydration schemes of a model compound of A-RNA and a polynucleotide which has the structure of the anticodon loop of yeast tRNAPhe have been determined, and their stabilization energies produced by the introduction of water in the first hydration shell were calculated by considering the hydrated ones as supermolecules. The results indicate that hydration scheme of A-RNA considerably differs from that of B-DNA and stabilization energy due to hydration of A-RNA is not so great as B-DNA. In the anticodon loop structure, however, stabilizing effect of the bound water molecules upon the structure is significant. From the results, the reason why the structure of RNA remains unchanged with the change of hydration degree while that of DNA is altered was studied.     

Slow-motion ESR study of order and dynamics in oriented lipid multibilayers: effects of unsaturation and hydration

Electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments were carried out on 3-doxyl-5 alpha-cholestane spin-label (CSL) molecules embedded in macroscopically oriented multibilayers of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC), palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC), dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC). For these lipids we studied the effects of temperature, hydration and unsaturation on the orientational order parameters and rotational motions of the probe molecules in the liquid crystalline phase. The experimental ESR spectra were simulated by a numerical solution of the stochastic Liouville equation (SLE) for the density matrix of a spin-label molecule. This allows extraction of detailed information about both molecular order and rotational dynamics. The data show that, in our temperature range, the lipid systems are in the slow-motion regime, thereby precluding a motional narrowing interpretation. This is illustrated by a simple model calculation which shows that a fast-motion interpretation seriously overestimates the order parameters. We have compared our results with data obtained independently from angle-resolved fluorescence depolarization (AFD) experiments on oriented bilayers in which 1-[4-(trimethylammonio)phenyl]-6-phenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (TMA-DPH) molecules were used as fluorescent probes (Deinum et al., (1988) Biochemistry 27, 852-860). It is found that the orientational order and the rotational dynamics obtained with both techniques agree well. This shows that the probe molecules do not perturb the local bilayer structure to any large extent and that they indeed reflect the intrinsic behaviour of the lipid molecules. Upon increase in temperature or hydration, we observe faster reorientational motion and lower molecular ordering. In contrast, we do not find any systematic effect of unsaturation on molecular reorientational motion. Our results indicate that changes in membrane molecular order and reorientational dynamics have to be considered separately and are not necessarily correlated as implied by the common concept of membrane fluidity.     

Partitional and motional properties of a spin-labeled daunomycin in lipid bilayers. An ESR study.

The partition coefficient of a spin-labeled daunomycin (DAU-SL) in dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine membrane has been determined using the electron spin resonance (ESR) method. The experiment was carried out as a function of temperature between 5 degrees C and 35 degrees C, giving partition coefficients between 2 and 6 without abrupt change at the phase transition. The thermodynamic parameters on transferring the DAU-SL from the aqueous phase to the lipid bilayer were also calculated. The calculated values are: delta H = 6.11 kcal/mol and delta S = 23 cal/K mol. The partitioning of the DAU-SL and its motion in the membrane were investigated in a wide range of pH (4-10.3). The data show that pH has no effect on partitioning of the DAU-SL which suggest that the drug exists in the uncharged form in the bilayer.     

An ESR study of the influence of some physico-chemical factors on the conformation of a postsynaptic acetylcholinesterase.

1. In a previous ESR study of a membrane acetylcholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.7) we found, contrary to observations by other authors, spectra indicating that the active serine might be located in a pocket of the enzyme surface. In order to inquire into this possibility, ESR spectra were studied under the influence of different physico-chemical factors known to cause an unfolding of proteins. 2. The active serine of the postsynaptic membrane acetylcholinesterase of Torpedo marmorata electric organ was spin labeled using 1-oxyl-2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethyl-4-piperidinyletoxyphosphonofluoridate. 3. The effect of the chosen physico-chemical factors was an increase in the rotational freedom of spin labels; this result corroborates the suggestion that the active center of our acetylcholinesterase preparation is located in a pocket.     

Diffusion of a fluorescent probe in egg lecithin multilayers and the effect of a permanent magnetic field

A method is developed for determining the value of transverse diffusion coefficient through lipid multilayers. Using the absorption kinetics parameters of 1-aniline-8-sulphonate naphthalene (ANS) the value of diffusion coefficient was estimated as Dt = (3 +/- 1). X 10(-12) cm2 s-1 at (22 +/- 0.5) degrees C. The value of Dt was shown to increase under the action of the magnetic field parallel to the multilayer surface; a relative increase of Dt at field 1.3 T is +(40 +/- 15)%.