Raman spectroscopy is a well-established analytical spectroscopic technique for obtaining vibrational information for structural and molecular determination of a sample. It is particularly well suited for the study of biological molecules due to its ability to accommodate aqueous solutions. The spectral frequency, intensity, and line-width of lipid Raman bands are extremely sensitive to structural alterations. This presentation will focus on the use of Raman spectroscopy to investigate the structural and packing properties of model cell membranes of various compositions, including those containing cholesterol and other small molecules. Cholesterol is widely distributed in eukaryotic cell membranes and constitutes a high fraction of total lipid. It plays a crucial role in the functional, structural, and dynamical properties of membranes, and regulates a wide range of trans-membrane proteins. In this presentation, we discuss the use of Raman spectroscopy to characterize mixed lipid model bilayers containing cholesterol and other small molecules. The resulting complex spectra are deconvoluted by an appropriate method to treat the overlapping spectral features, in order to correlate the effect of cholesterol and other small molecules on the structural properties of model cell membranes.

Raman spectroscopic investigation of model lipid membranes containing cholesterol and small molecules

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