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Fluorescence techniques for probing water penetration into lipid bilayers

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Abstract

Fluorescence spectroscopy can be used as a highly sensitive and localized probe for hydration in lipid bilayers. Water associates with the head-group region, where it participates in an interlipid network of hydrogen bonds. Deeper in the bilayer, water is contained within acyl-chain packing defects. Fluorescence methodology is available to probe both the interstitial and head-group hydration in lipid bilayers, and results are in good agreement with other techniques. Using fluorescence spectroscopic approaches, cholesterol is shown to dehydrate the acyl-chain region, while hydrating the head-group region. Membrane proteins appear to increase acyl-chain hydration at the protein-lipid interface. Overall fluorescence spectroscopic techniques may be most effective in studying the water content of lipid bilayers and especially of biological membranes.

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  1. Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, 19107, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Christopher D. Stubbs, Cojen Ho & Simon J. Slater

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  1. Christopher D. Stubbs
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Stubbs, C.D., Ho, C. & Slater, S.J. Fluorescence techniques for probing water penetration into lipid bilayers. J Fluoresc 5, 19–28 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00718779

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