Search results for "Lipids"
showing 10 items of 2228 documents
Plasmalogens in the retina: From occurrence in retinal cell membranes to potential involvement in pathophysiology of retinal diseases
2014
Plasmalogens (Pls) represent a specific subclass of glycerophospholipids characterized by the presence of a vinyl-ether bond at the sn-1 position of glycerol. Pls are quantitatively important in membranes of neuronal tissues, including the brain and the retina, where they can represent until almost two-third of ethanolamine glycerophospholipids. They are considered as reservoirs of polyunsaturated fatty acids as several studies have shown that arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids are preferentially esterified on Pls when compared to other glycerophospholipids. Reduced levels of Pls were observed in a number of neurodegenerative disorders such as glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindn…
Molecular insights and novel approaches for targeting tumor metastasis
2020
In recent years, due to the effective drug delivery and preciseness of tumor sites or microenvironment, the targeted drug delivery approaches have gained ample attention for tumor metastasis therapy. The conventional treatment approaches for metastasis therapy have reported with immense adverse effects because they exhibited maximum probability of killing the carcinogenic cells along with healthy cells. The tumor vasculature, comprising of vasculogenic impressions and angiogenesis, greatly depends upon the growth and metastasis in the tumors. Therefore, various nanocarriers-based delivery approaches for targeting to tumor vasculature have been attempted as efficient and potential approaches…
Interaction Between drug loaded Polyaspartamide-polylactide-polisorbate based micelles and cell membrane models: a calorimetric study
2011
Amphiphilic biodegradable copolymers, for their ability to self-assemble into micelle-like aggregates, with a suitable loading capacity, are of emerging interest for the delivery of water-insoluble drugs. α,β-Poly[(N-hydroxyethyl)-dl-aspartamide] (PHEA) is suitable to obtain amphiphilic graft copolymers. These copolymers can be obtained starting from PHEA-ethylenediamine (PHEA-EDA) which is functionalized with polysorbate 80 (PS₈₀, like targeting residues to the brain) and polylactide (PLA, like hydrophobic chains) in order to obtain polymeric micelles of PHEA-EDA-PS₈₀-PLA potentially useful to release drugs to the central nervous system. In this paper, the interaction and absorption of PHE…
Unusual triskelion patterns and dye-labelled GUVs: consequences of the interaction of cholesterol-containing linear-hyperbranched block copolymers wi…
2015
Cholesterol (Ch) linked to a linear-hyperbranched block copolymer composed of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(glycerol) (hbPG) was investigated for its membrane anchoring properties. Two polyether-based linear-hyperbranched block copolymers with and without a covalently attached rhodamine fluorescence label (Rho) were employed (Ch-PEG30-b-hbPG23 and Ch-PEG30-b-hbPG17-Rho). Compression isotherms of co-spread 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) or 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) with the respective polymers were measured on the Langmuir trough and the morphology development of the liquid-condensed (LC) domains was studied by epi-fluorescence microsc…
Langmuir−Blodgett Films of Fluorinated Glycolipids and Polymerizable Lipids and Their Phase Separating Behavior
2010
This paper describes the phase separating behavior of Langmuir monolayers from mixtures of different lipids that (i) either carry already a glycopeptide recognition site or can be easily modified to carry one and (ii) polymerizable lipids. To ensure demixing during compression, we used fluorinated lipids for the biological headgroups and hydrocarbon based lipids as polymerizable lipids. As a representative for a lipid monomer, which can be polymerized in the hydrophilic headgroup, a methacrylic monomer was used. As a monomer, which can be polymerized in the hydrophobic tail, a lipid with a diacetylene unit was used (pentacosadiynoic acid, PDA). The fluorinated lipids were on the one hand a …
A lipocentric view of peptide-induced pores
2010
Although lipid membranes serve as effective sealing barriers for the passage of most polar solutes, nonmediated leakage is not completely improbable. A high activation energy normally keeps unassisted bilayer permeation at a very low frequency, but lipids are able to self-organize as pores even in peptide-free and protein-free membranes. The probability of leakage phenomena increases under conditions such as phase coexistence, external stress or perturbation associated to binding of nonlipidic molecules. Here, we argue that pore formation can be viewed as an intrinsic property of lipid bilayers, with strong similarities in the structure and mechanism between pores formed with participation …
Pore formation by Vibrio cholerae cytolysin requires cholesterol in both monolayers of the target membrane
2007
Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC) forms oligomeric transmembrane pores in cholesterol-rich membranes. To better understand this process, we used planar bilayer membranes. In symmetric membranes, the rate of the channel formation by VCC has a superlinear dependency on the cholesterol membrane fraction. Thus, more than one cholesterol molecule can facilitate VCC-pore formation. In asymmetric membranes, the rate of pore formation is limited by the leaflet with the lower cholesterol content. Methyl-beta-cyclodextrin, which removes cholesterol from membranes, rapidly inhibits VCC pore formation, even when it is added to the side opposite that of VCC addition. The results suggest that cholesterol i…
Correct oligomerization is a prerequisite for insertion of the central molecular domain of staphylococcal α-toxin into the lipid bilayer
1995
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin is a primarily hydrophilic molecule that binds as a monomer to target membranes and then aggregates to form amphiphilic oligomers that represent water-filled transmembrane channels. Current evidence indicates that a region located in the center of the molecule inserts deeply into the bilayer. In the present study, we sought to determine whether membrane insertion was triggered by the oligomerization process, and whether insertion correlated with pore formation. Double mutants of alpha-toxin were prepared in which His-35 was replaced by Arg, and cysteine residues were introduced at positions 69, 130 and 186. Substitution of His-35 with Arg rendered the toxin molecu…
Cholesterol Specificity of Some Heptameric β-Barrel Pore-Forming Bacterial Toxins: Structural and Functional Aspects
2010
Apart from the thiol-specific/cholesterol-dependent cytolysin family of toxins (see Chapter 20) there are a number of other unrelated bacterial toxins that also have an affinity for plasma membrane cholesterol. Emphasis is given here on the Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC) and the cytolysins from related Vibrio species. The inhibition of the cytolytic activity of these toxins by prior incubation with extracellular cholesterol or low density lipoprotein emerges as a unifying feature, as does plasma membrane cholesterol depletion. Incubation of VCC with cholesterol produces a heptameric oligomer, which is not equivalent to the pre-pore since it is unable to penetrate the plasma membrane. In st…
P80Cannabinoid receptor CB2 prevents development of heart failure in a murine model of pressure overload
2014
Purpose: Cardiac adaptation to pressure overload is associated with inflammatory reaction, which untreated leads to myocardial fibrosis and heart failure. We have recently demonstrated that endogenous cannabinoids and the cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) are activated and associated with persistent inflammation in hypertrophic myocardium of patients with aortic valve stenosis. Therefore, we investigated the role of the CB2 in a mouse model of pressure overload. Methods: Transverse aortic constriction was performed in CB2-/--mice and their wildtype littermates (CB2+/+; n=8-12/group). Taqman® RT-qPCR analysis was performed after 3 and 7 days. After M-mode echocardiography and Millar® pressure-vol…