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The bilayer stability of inner monolayer lipids from the human erythrocyte
Author(s) -
Hope M.J.,
Cullis P.R.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(79)80399-3
Subject(s) - citation , white (mutation) , columbia university , library science , chemistry , computer science , media studies , sociology , biochemistry , gene
An increase in the intracellular Ca” concentration of human erythrocytes results in profound morphological changes and loss of plasma membrane in the form of small vesicles [ 1,2]. It is of interest to determine whether this behaviour could be related to a Ca2+-induced instability in the bilayer structure of the membrane lipid. We have therefore examined the influence of Ca2+ on model membrane systems with lipid compositions approximating those of the outer and inner monolayer of the erythrocyte membrane. We show that whereas the outer monolayer lipids are unaffected by Ca2+, a large proportion of the inner monolayer lipids adopt the hexagonal (H,) phase in the presence of Cap. We suggest that this tendency of the inner monolayer to adopt non-bilayer configurations could be directly related to the fusion event involved in vesicle ejection following CaZ* influx.