Cholesterol's location in lipid bilayers.

Drew Marquardt, Norbert Kučerka, Stephen R Wassall, Thad A Harroun, John Katsaras

Journal: Chemistry and physics of lipids 2017;199():17-25

PMID: 27056099

Abstract

It is well known that cholesterol modifies the physical properties of lipid bilayers. For example, the much studied liquid-ordered Lo phase contains rapidly diffusing lipids with their acyl chains in the all trans configuration, similar to gel phase bilayers. Moreover, the Lo phase is commonly associated with cholesterol-enriched lipid rafts, which are thought to serve as platforms for signaling proteins in the plasma membrane. Cholesterol's location in lipid bilayers has been studied extensively, and it has been shown - at least in some bilayers - to align differently from its canonical upright orientation, where its hydroxyl group is in the vicinity of the lipid-water interface. In this article we review recent works describing cholesterol's location in different model membrane systems with emphasis on results obtained from scattering, spectroscopic and molecular dynamics studies.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Address: University of Graz, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Biophysics Division, NAWI Graz, Humboldtstr. 50/III, 8010 Graz, Austria; BioTechMed-Graz, Austria. Electronic address: [email protected].; Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980 Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia; Department of Physical Chemistry of Drugs, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University, 832 32 Bratislava, Slovakia.; Department of Physics, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202, United States.; Department of Physics, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada.; Department of Physics, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, United States; Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, United States; Department of Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].

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