Figure 2.

Homeoviscous adaptation of membrane structure. A high degree of compensation to temperature in membrane static order (‘fluidity’), as indexed by the fluorescence anisotropy of the probe molecule 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH), is found in the comparisons of synaptosomal membranes from brain tissues of differently thermally adapted vertebrates. (a) Acute effects of measurement of temperature on DPH fluorescence anisotropy. Thick line segments show approximate body temperatures of the species. (b) DPH fluorescence anisotropy at each species' adaptation temperature. (figure modified after Logue et al. 2000).