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Membrane potential-dependent binding of polysialic acid to lipid monolayers and bilayers

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters volume 18, pages 579–594 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Polysialic acids are linear polysaccharides composed of sialic acid monomers. These polyanionic chains are usually membrane-bound, and are expressed on the surfaces of neural, tumor and neuroinvasive bacterial cells. We used toluidine blue spectroscopy, the Langmuir monolayer technique and fluorescence spectroscopy to study the effects of membrane surface potential and transmembrane potential on the binding of polysialic acids to lipid bilayers and monolayers. Polysialic acid free in solution was added to the bathing solution to assess the metachromatic shift in the absorption spectra of toluidine blue, the temperature dependence of the fluorescence anisotropy of DPH in liposomes, the limiting molecular area in lipid monolayers, and the fluorescence spectroscopy of oxonol V in liposomes. Our results show that both a positive surface potential and a positive transmembrane potential inside the vesicles can facilitate the binding of polysialic acid chains to model lipid membranes. These observations suggest that these membrane potentials can also affect the polysialic acid-mediated interaction between cells.

Abbreviations

Δψdiff :

potassium diffusion potential

ψS :

surface potential

DP:

degree of polymerization

ODA:

octadecylamine

polySia:

polysialic acid

OX-V:

oxonol V

TB:

toluidine blue

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, University of Opole, Kominka 6, 45-032, Opole, Poland

    Krzysztof Nowotarski, Karolina Sapoń, Monika Kowalska, Tadeusz Janas & Teresa Janas

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  1. Krzysztof Nowotarski
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  2. Karolina Sapoń
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  3. Monika Kowalska
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  4. Tadeusz Janas
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Correspondence to Teresa Janas.

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Nowotarski, K., Sapoń, K., Kowalska, M. et al. Membrane potential-dependent binding of polysialic acid to lipid monolayers and bilayers. Cell Mol Biol Lett 18, 579–594 (2013). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11658-013-0108-x

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Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters

ISSN: 1689-1392

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