1-2-diarachidonoyl-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1-2-distearoyllecithin

Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) composed of different phospholipid binary mixtures were studied at different temperatures, by a method combining the sectioning capability of the two-photon excitation fluorescence microscope and the partition and spectral properties of 6-dodecanoyl-2-dimethylamino-naphthalene (Laurdan) and Lissamine rhodamine B 1,2-dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (N-Rh-DPPE). We analyzed and compared fluorescence images of GUVs composed of 1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine/1, 2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC/DPPC), 1, 2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine/1, 2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC/DSPC), 1, 2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine/1, 2-diarachidoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC/DAPC), 1, 2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine/1, 2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC/DSPC) (1:1 mol/mol in all cases), and 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine/1, 2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPE/DMPC) (7:3 mol/mol) at temperatures corresponding to the fluid phase and the fluid-solid phase coexistence. In addition, we studied the solid-solid temperature regime for the DMPC/DSPC and DMPE/DMPC mixtures. From the Laurdan intensity images the generalized polarization function (GP) was calculated at different temperatures to characterize the phase state of the lipid domains. We found a homogeneous fluorescence distribution in the GUV images at temperatures corresponding to the fluid region for all of the lipid mixtures. At temperatures corresponding to phase coexistence we observed concurrent fluid and solid domains in the GUVs independent of the lipid mixture. In all cases the lipid solid domains expanded and migrated around the vesicle surface as we decreased the temperature. The migration of the solid domains decreased dramatically at temperatures close to the solid-fluid-->solid phase transition. For the DLPC-containing mixtures, the solid domains showed line, quasicircular, and dendritic shapes as the difference in the hydrophobic chain length between the components of the binary mixture increases. In addition, for the saturated PC-containing mixtures, we found a linear relationship between the GP values for the fluid and solid domains and the difference between the hydrophobic chain length of the binary mixture components. Specifically, at the phase coexistence temperature region the difference in the GP values, associated with the fluid and solid domai

Topics: 1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine; 2-Naphthylamine; Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine; Fluorescent Dyes; Laurates; Lipid Bilayers; Liposomes; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Molecular Structure; Phosphatidylcholines; Phosphatidylethanolamines; Phospholipids; Rhodamines; Temperature

The in vivo association of blood proteins with large unilamellar liposomes composed of saturated phosphatidylcholines was analyzed to determine the effect of membrane fluidity and hydrocarbon chain length on liposome-plasma protein interactions and liposome clearance. Liposomes composed of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC), dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), distearoylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC), and diarachidoylphosphatidylcholine (DAPC) were administered via the lateral tail vein of CD-1 mice and were subsequently isolated from the blood at 2 min postinjection. The protein binding ability (PB, grams of protein bound per mole total lipid) of the liposomes was quantified and related to their circulation half-lives. Liposomes composed of long-chain saturated phospholipids that exist in the gel (frozen) state at 39 degrees C (DPPC,DSPC and DAPC) bound large quantities of blood proteins, in excess of 48 g of protein per mole total lipid, and were found to be rapidly cleared from the circulation. The incorporation of cholesterol into DSPC liposomes resulted in significantly decreased PB values and enhanced circulation lifetimes for this lipid system. This cholesterol effect plateaued at 30 mol % cholesterol, corresponding to the loss of the gel-liquid crystalline phase transition, and resulted in PB values of 23-28 grams of protein per mole of total lipid. The types of blood proteins binding to DSPC liposomes were not significantly altered by the inclusion of cholesterol. This is the first demonstration of rapid clearance of neutral large unilamellar liposomes having high levels of bound protein.

Topics: 1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine; Animals; Blood Proteins; Cholesterol; Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine; Female; Half-Life; Kinetics; Liposomes; Membrane Fluidity; Mice; Phosphatidylcholines; Protein Binding

Light scattering and 31P-NMR have been used to monitor the effect of the bee-toxin, melittin, on phosphatidylcholine (PC) bilayers of variable acyl chain length (from C16:0 to C20:0). Melittin interacts with all lipids provided the interaction is initiated in the lipid fluid phase. For low-to-moderate amounts of toxin (lipid-peptide molar ratios, Ri > or = 15), the system takes the form of large spheroidal vesicles, in the fluid phase, whose radius increases from 750 A with dipalmitoyl-PC (DPPC) to 1500 A with diarachinoyl-PC (DAPC). These vesicles fragment into small discoids of 100-150 A radius when the system is cooled down below Tc (the gel-to-fluid phase transition temperature). Little chain length dependence is observed for the small objects. Small structures are also detected independently of the physical state of lipids (gel or fluid) when Ri < or = 5 and provided the interaction has been made above Tc. Small discs clearly characterized for DPPC and distearoyl-PC (DSPC) lipids are much less stable with DAPC. However in the long term, all these small structures fuse into large lipid lamellae. Discs are thermodynamically unstable and kinetics of disappearance of the small lipid-toxin complexes increases as the chain length increases in the sense: DAPC >> DSPC > DPPC. Kinetics of fusion of the small discs into extended bilayers is described by a pseudo-first-order law involving a lag time after which fusion starts. Increasing the chain length decreases the lag time and increases the rate of fusion. Formation of both the large vesicles in the fluid phase and the small discs in the gel phase as well as their stability is discussed in terms of relative shapes and dynamics of both lipids and toxin.

Topics: 1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine; Drug Stability; Kinetics; Light; Lipid Bilayers; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Melitten; Molecular Conformation; Phosphatidylcholines; Phosphorus; Scattering, Radiation; Structure-Activity Relationship; Thermodynamics

A detailed study on the structure, dynamics, and thermodynamic behavior of phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol (PC/CHOL) mixtures was undertaken using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. DSC thermograms of mixtures of cholesterol (CHOL) with 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC), 1,2-distearoyl-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DSPC), and 1,2-diarachidoyl-sn-phosphatidylcholine (DAPC) showed a broadening of the first-order gel-->liquid crystalline transition and a decrease in the transition enthalpy, indicating a gradual loss of cooperativity for high CHOL concentrations. DPPC and DSPC were labeled with 13C at the carbonyl group of the sn-2 chain and 2H was introduced into the middle of the sn-2 chain at the 6- and 12-position for DPPC and DSPC, respectively. The 13C and 2H NMR spectra of each labeled lipid were studied as a function of temperature and CHOL concentration. The residual quadrupole splitting in the 2H NMR spectra, delta nu Q perpendicular, was analyzed as a function of temperature and composition. For CHOL concentrations less than 30 mol %, a precipitous change in delta nu Q perpendicular occurs near the chain melting temperature of the phospholipid. Further increases in CHOL concentration broaden the transition and shift the midpoint to higher temperature, indicating the presence of a new phase at higher CHOL contents. Moreover, at a given temperature, delta nu Q perpendicular increases with increasing cholesterol content, which indicates a more ordered structure. The 13C NMR spectra in the gel state consisted of a superposition of two components which can be attributed to both gel-like and fluid phospholipid domains in the bilayer. This two-component spectrum can be simulated quantitatively with a two-parameter chemical exchange model, which permits the fraction of each form and the exchange rate to be determined as a function of temperature and composition. At high CHOL contents the line width of the fluid component broadens, suggesting an increase in the exchange rate between the domains. These results were interpreted in terms of a temperature composition diagram with one region L beta', two regions LGI and LGII, and one liquid crystalline region L alpha, with LG denoting "liquid-gel" type phases. Liquid-gel phases correspond to phases with increased order in the hydrocarbon chains (in comparison to that of the pure PC bilayer in the L alpha phase) combined with fast limit axi

Topics: 1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine; Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; Cholesterol; Gels; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Membrane Lipids; Phosphatidylcholines; Temperature

Gallium-67 chelated to nitrilotriacetic acid was encapsulated in liposomes composed of various phospholipids, and 67Ga delivery potential to the tumor after intravenous injection of these liposomes was examined. Tumor uptake of the liposomes themselves and their stability in the serum were also studied. It was found that liposomes composed of distearoylphosphatidylcholine, diarachidoylphosphatidylcholine, or sphingomyelin with cholesterol (molar ratio of phospholipid:cholesterol, 2:1) could be taken by the tumor effectively and could deliver large amounts of 67Ga to the tumor. They could also give high 67Ga accumulation ratios (tumor to the other tissues). The study of liposomal stability in the serum suggested that the marked 67Ga accumulation in the tumor resulted from the serum stability of the liposomal bilayer, i.e., the stable liposomes in the blood circulation could reach the tumor in large quantities after i.v. injection. These observations indicate that liposomes with an appropriate lipid composition may be an excellent tool to accumulate 67Ga in tumors.

Topics: Animals; Carcinoma, Ehrlich Tumor; Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine; Gallium Radioisotopes; Liposomes; Male; Mice; Phosphatidylcholines; Radionuclide Imaging; Sphingomyelins; Tissue Distribution