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Fluorescent probes for detecting cholesterol-rich ordered membrane microdomains: entangled relationships between structural analogies in the membrane and functional homologies in the cell
Author(s) -
Gérald Gaibelet,
François Tercé,
Sophie Allart,
Chantal Lebrun,
Xavier Collet,
Nadège Jamin,
Stéphane Orlowski
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
aims biophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.545
H-Index - 12
ISSN - 2377-9098
DOI - 10.3934/biophy.2017.1.121
Subject(s) - membrane , context (archaeology) , lipid microdomain , cell , fluorescence , cell membrane , membrane structure , biology , biophysics , chemistry , computational biology , nanotechnology , materials science , biochemistry , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics
This review addresses the question of fluorescent detection of ordered membrane (micro) domains in living (cultured) cells, with a "practical" point of view since the situation is much more complicated than for studying model membranes. We first briefly recall the bases of model membrane structural organization involving liquid-ordered and -disordered phases, and the main features of their counterparts in cell membranes that are the various microdomains. We then emphasize the utility of the fluorescent probes derived from cholesterol, and delineate the respective advantages, limitations and drawbacks of the existing ones. In particular, besides their intramembrane behavior, their relevant characteristics should integrate their different cellular fates for membrane turn-over, trafficking and metabolism, in order to evaluate and improve their efficiency for in-situ probing membrane microdomains in the cell physiology context. Finally, at the present stage, it appears that Bdp-Chol and Pyr-met-Chol display well complementary properties, allowing to use them in combination to improve the reliability of the current experimental approaches. But the field is still open, and there remains much work to perform in this research area

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