The distribution of the two fluorescent phospholipid analogs across acetylcholine receptor (AChR)-rich membranes from Torpedo marmorata has been studied by a combination of nonradiative fluorescence resonance energy transfer using fluorescent lipid probes and quenching of their fluorescence with Co2+ and 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid. The fluorescent lipid analogs were supplied to the AChR-rich membrane or liposome suspension by simply injecting ethanol solutions of the probes into the medium. The efficiency of the fluorescence energy transfer between NBD-labeled phosphatidylcholine and rhodamine-labeled ethanolamine glycerophospholipids was measured in model membranes prepared in such a way that the probes could be targeted at the same or opposite halves of the bilayer, and the results were compared with those obtained for native AChR-rich membranes. It is shown that NBD-PC and Rho-PE can be efficiently (95%) incorporated into AChR-rich membranes and liposomes. On the basis of the comparison with model liposomes, the energy transfer experiments suggest a preferential exofacial location of the parental phospholipids in the native AChR-rich membrane. Fluorescence quenching with Co2+ and TNBS showed these two phospholipid analogs to be located predominantly in the outer leaflet of the bilayer in AChR-rich membranes. From the Co2+ quenching of the lipid analogs, it was also possible to calculate the surface potential of the outer leaflet of the membrane as being on the order of -15 mV.

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