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Pigment containing lipid vesicles

III. Role of chlorophylla as sensor for aggregational states of lecithin

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Summary

It was shown previously (Walz, 1976) that chlorophylla incorporated into the membrane of lecithin vesicles is a probe which detects the aggregational state of the lipids. This phenomenon is interpreted in terms of a solvatochromism, i.e., the effect of various solvents on the absorption spectrum of the solute. The sensor characteristics can be expressed by a set of solvatochromic coefficients, which are pertinent to the electronic transitions occuring in chlorophylla on excitation with light, and by means of the absorption bands associated with these transitions. An unambiguous resolution of spectra into absorption bands is not yet practicable, but at least part of the bands can be approximated by, Gaussian components which then allows us to estimate the solvatochromic coefficients From these data and based on the currently available theoretical and experimental information about, solvatochromism, it is concluded that the chromophore, i.e., the porphyrin ring of chlorophylla, is located adjacent to the glycerol-ester moieties of the lecithin molecules in the membrane, and that the sensor ability relies on different orientations of the chromophore for lecithin in different states of aggregation.

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  1. Department of pharmacology, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    D. Walz

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  1. D. Walz
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Walz, D. Pigment containing lipid vesicles. J. Membrain Biol. 31, 31–64 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01869398

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01869398

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