The interaction of neuropeptide Y with negatively charged and zwitterionic phospholipid membranes

The interaction of the 36 amino acid neuropeptide Y (NPY) with liposomes was studied using the intrinsic tyrosine fluorescence of NPY and an NPY fragment comprising amino acids 18–36. The vesicular membranes were composed of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine at varying mixing ratios. From the experimentally measured binding curves, the standard Gibbs free energy for the peptide transfer from aqueous solution to the lipid membrane was calculated to be around ?30 kJ/mol for membrane mixtures containing physiological amounts of acidic lipids at pH 5. The effective charge of the peptide depends on the pH of the buffer and is about half of its theoretical net charge. The results were confirmed using the fluorescence of the NPY analogue [Trp³²]-NPY. Further, the position of NPY’s α-helix in the membrane was estimated from the intrinsic tyrosine fluorescence of NPY, from quenching experiments with spin-labelled phospholipids using [Trp³²]-NPY, and from ¹H magic-angle spinning NMR relaxation measurements using spin-labelled [Ala³¹, TOAC³²]-NPY. The results suggest that the immersion depth of NPY into the membrane is triggered by the membrane composition. The α-helix of NPY is located in the upper chain region of zwitterionic membranes but its position is shifted to the glycerol region in negatively charged membranes. For membranes composed of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine, an intermediate position of the α-helix is observed.