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Spectroscopic studies of D-α-tocopherol concentration-induced transformation in egg phosphatidylcholne vesicles

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters volume 12, pages 51–69 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The effects of embedding up to 60 mol% of α-tocopherol (α-Toc) on the morphology and structure of the egg phosphatidylcholine (PC) membrane were studied using spectroscopic techniques. The resulting vesicles were subjected to turbidometric and dynamic light scattering measurements to evaluate their size distribution. The α-Toc intrinsic fluorescence and its quenching was used to estimate the tocopherol position in the membrane. Optical microscopy was used to visualize morphological changes in the vesicles during the inclusion of tocopherol into the 2 mg/ml PC membrane. The incorporation of up to 15 mol% of tocopherol molecules into PC vesicles is accompanied by a linear increase in the fluorescence intensity and the simultaneous formation of larger, multilamellar vesicles. Increasing the tocopherol concentration above 20 mol% induced structural and morphological changes leading to the disappearance of micrometer-sized vesicles and the formation of small unilamellar vesicles of size ranging from 30 to 120 nm, mixed micelles and non-lamellar structures.

Abbreviations

α-Toc:

D-α-tocopherol

ACR:

acrylamide

DLS:

dynamic light scattering

DMPC:

dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine

DPPC:

dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine

GUV:

giant unilamellar vesicle

GMV:

giant multilamellar vesicle

GLV:

giant lamellar vesicle

KI:

potassium iodide

KD :

dynamic fluorescence quenching constant

KSV :

Stern-Volmer quenching constant

LMV:

large multilamellar vesicle

NMR:

nuclear magnetic resonance

PC:

L-α-phosphatydylcholine

SSBV:

small single-bilayer vesicle

SUV:

small unilamellar vesicle

V:

static fluorescence quenching constant

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, ul. Wojska Polskiego 38/42, 60-637, Poznań, Poland

    Krzysztof Dwiecki, Paweł Górnas & Krzysztof Polewski

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Food Analysis, ul. Mazowiecka 48, 60-623, Poznań, Poland

    Małgorzata Nogala-Kałucka

  3. August Cieszkowski Agricultural University, Poznań, Poland

    Małgorzata Nogala-Kałucka

  4. Institute of Physics, A. Mickiewicz University, 61-614, Poznań, Poland

    Agnieszka Wilk

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  1. Krzysztof Dwiecki
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  2. Paweł Górnas
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  3. Agnieszka Wilk
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  4. Małgorzata Nogala-Kałucka
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Dwiecki, K., Górnas, P., Wilk, A. et al. Spectroscopic studies of D-α-tocopherol concentration-induced transformation in egg phosphatidylcholne vesicles. Cell Mol Biol Lett 12, 51–69 (2007). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11658-006-0059-6

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Key words

  • Egg phosphatidylcholine
  • Tocopherol
  • Fluorescence
  • Vesicles
  • Optical microscopy
  • Dynamic light scattering

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters

ISSN: 1689-1392

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