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. 1971 Jul;68(7):1572–1576. doi: 10.1073/pnas.68.7.1572

Laser Raman Investigation of the Effect of Cholesterol on Conformational Changes in Dipalmitoyl Lecithin Multilayers

Joseph L Lippert 1, Warner L Peticolas 1
PMCID: PMC389243  PMID: 5283948

Abstract

Large and abrupt changes are observed at 38°C in the 1100 cm-1 region of the Raman spectrum of aqueous dipalmitoyl lecithin multilayers. They correspond to conformational changes due to the melting of the paraffin side chains. The addition of cholesterol to the multilayers broadens but does not abolish these changes. It is suggested that the addition of cholesterol decreases the interactions between adjacent paraffin side chains of lecithin, causing a change from a cooperative to a noncooperative gel-liquid crystal transition. Removal of water from dipalmitoyl lecithin also results in a noncooperative transition strikingly similar to that caused by addition of cholesterol. Raman spectroscopy thus provides a new and sensitive probe for analyzing the structures of membranes and their constituents.

Keywords: gel-liquid crystral transition, noncooperative, transition temperature

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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