Journal article
Effect of membrane characteristics on phase separation and domain formation in cholesterol-lipid mixtures
Biophysical journal, v 88(2), pp 916-924
Feb 2005
PMID: 15542557
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Abstract
We examine, using an analytical mean-field model, the distribution of cholesterol in a lipid bilayer. The model accounts for the perturbation of lipid packing induced by the embedded cholesterol, in a manner similar to that of transmembrane proteins. We find that the membrane-induced interactions between embedded cholesterol molecules vary as a function of the cholesterol content. Thus, the effective lipid-cholesterol interaction is concentration-dependent. Moreover, it transitions from repulsive to attractive to repulsive as the cholesterol content increases. As the concentration of cholesterol in the bilayer exceeds a critical value, phase separation occurs. The coexistence between cholesterol-rich and cholesterol-poor domains is universal for any bilayer parameters, although the composition of the cholesterol-rich phase varies as a function of the lipid properties. Although we do not assume specific cholesterol-lipid interactions or the formation of a lipid-cholesterol cluster, we find that the composition of the cholesterol-rich domains is constant, independent of the cholesterol content in the bilayer.
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Details
- Title
- Effect of membrane characteristics on phase separation and domain formation in cholesterol-lipid mixtures
- Creators
- Veena Pata - Drexel UniversityNily Dan - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Biophysical journal, v 88(2), pp 916-924
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000226750800015
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-21244446980
- Other Identifier
- 991019312351104721
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- Web of Science research areas
- Biophysics