These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Electrostatic interactions between model mitochondrial membranes.
    Author: Nichols-Smith S, Kuhl T.
    Journal: Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces; 2005 Mar 25; 41(2-3):121-7. PubMed ID: 15737537.
    Abstract:
    Lipids are very diverse in both their respective structures and functions; and cells exquisitely control membrane composition. One intriguing issue is the specific role of lipids in modulating the physical properties of membranes. Cardiolipin (CL) is a unique four-tailed, doubly negatively charged lipid found predominately within the inner mitochondrial membrane, and is thought to be influential in determining the inner mitochondrial membrane potential and permeability. To determine the role of cardiolipin in modulating the charge properties of membranes, this study investigated the electrostatic interactions between mixed cardiolipin and phosphatidylcholine bilayers as a function of cardiolipin concentration. For physiologically relevant concentrations of cardiolipin, the surface charge density of the membrane was found to increase linearly with increasing concentration of cardiolipin. However, only a fraction of the cardiolipin molecules predicted to carry a charge from pK-values were ionized. Clearly environmental factors, beyond that of pH, play a role in determining the charge of bilayers containing cardiolipin.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]