The fundamental scaffold of all biological membranes is lipid bilayers that form a barrier between the cell interior and the surrounding environment. These membranes are essential to both the structure and function of mammalian cells and consist of compositionally diverse lipids arranged in a dynamic structure. In this study, we examine how changes in acyl chain structure alter bilayer properties and structural modulation, as probed by water permeability and Raman microspectroscopy. The water permeability has been shown to have strong dependency on the characteristic lipid bilayer structure. The water peremeability was measured using a Droplet Interface Bilayer (DIB) as a model of cell membranes. Raman spectroscopy is a vibrational spectroscopy based on inelastic scattering of light. The energy changes detected from the process of inelastic scattering of light are those required to cause molecular vibration. Raman spectra exhibit well-resolved bands of fundamental vibrational transitions, characterisic of each unique bond, thus providing a high content of molecular structure information. We discuss the molecular insights obtained from osmotic water permeability and Raman structural studies of various types of protypical membranes formed by single hydrocarbon chain (monoglycerides) and double hydrocarbond chain (phospholcholine) lipids.

Insights into biomembrane structure by water permeability and raman spectroscopy

2019 Fall National Meeting

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