The phospholipid headgroup mobility of small unilamellar vesicles composed of different mixtures of phosphatidyl-L-serine (PS) and phosphatidylcholine is characterized by the solvent relaxation behavior of the polarity sensitive dyes 6-propionyl-2-(dimethylamino)naphthalene (Prodan) and 6-palmitoyl-2-[trimethylammoniumethyl]-methylamino]naphthalene chloride (Patman). If the PS content exceeds 10%, the addition of calcium leads to a substantial deceleration of the solvent relaxation of both dyes, indicating the formation of Ca(PS)2 complexes. Addition of prothrombin and its fragment 1 leads to a further decrease of the headgroup mobility, as explained by the binding of more than two PS-molecules by a single protein molecule. Prodan monitors the outermost region of the bilayer and it clearly distinguishes between the binding of prothrombin and its fragment 1. The deeper incalated Patman does not distinguish between both proteins. The validity of the solvent relaxation technique for the investigation of the membrane binding of peripheral proteins is demonstrated by the studies of prothrombin induced changes in the steady-state fluorescence anisotropies of 1,6-diphenyl-1,3, 5-hexatriene.
Time-resolved fluorescence measurements were performed for a set of n-anthroyloxy fatty acids (n-AS; n = 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 16) in both solvent and vesicle systems. The Stokes' shifts and the mean relaxation times calculated from the time-resolved emission spectra (TRES) are shown to be strongly dependent on the position of the fluorophore in small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) composed of phosphatidylcholine (PC), while they are essentially independent of the fluorophore position in isotropic paraffin oil. The concept of an intramolecular relaxation process which had been suggested to explain the wavelength dependence of the emission behaviour of the n-AS dyes in viscous solvents is supported by semiempirical calculations showing that a more planar conformation is favoured in the excited compared to the ground state. However, in order to explain the results in vesicle systems, the concept of intramolecular relaxation is not sufficient. Rather, we show that intermolecular solvent relaxation processes play the dominant role for the wavelength dependent emission behaviour in polar, viscous environments.
We synthesized and studied N-palmitoyl-3-aminobenzanthrone (ABA-C15), which we proved to be an advantageous new fluorescent phospholipid membrane label. While the absorption of ABA-C15 in protic solvents shows negative solvatochromism, its fluorescence emission is substantially red-shifted when the polarity of the solvent is increased. ABA-C 15 is excitable by lasers emitting in the range between 390 and 490 nm; it exhibits reasonable quantum yields in protic solvents and binds with high affinity to small unilamellar phospholipid vesicles. Absorption, steady state fluorescence, and solvent relaxation data indicate that the aminobenzanthrone chromophore is located in the headgroup region of phospholipid bilayers in the liquid crystalline state of small unilamellar vesicles. The solvent relaxation kinetics probed by ABA-C 15 in the liquid crystalline state is characterized by three solvent relaxation times in the order of 0.05, 0.2, and 1.5 ns, respectively. We observed that the relative contribution of the 0.05 ns component and the overall Stokes shift became larger with increasing difference between the experimental temperature and the main phase transition temperature; this suggests that the chromophore becomes more accessible by water molecules. In the gel phase, a component faster than 30 ps significantly contributes to the solvent relaxation kinetics. However, the solvent relaxation on the nanosecond time scale appears to be slower than in the liquid crystalline phase. The shape and time evolution of the time-resolved emission spectra suggest that two distinct microenvironments of the dye might be responsible for the atypical solvent relaxation characteristics in the gel phase.
The emission behaviour of the two polarity sensitive probes Prodan and Patman in phospholipid vesicles was studied as a function of the concentration of ethanol. Comparing the spectral shifts in both the symmetric lipid 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) showing a phase transition from a normal to a fully interdigitated gel phase and the strongly asymmetric lipid 1-stearoyl-2-lauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (C(18):C(12)-PC) favouring a mixed interdigitated gel phase we show that the huge red shifts of Prodan in presence of higher ethanol concentrations cannot be easily attributed to a specific lipid phase transition. Rather, probe relocation and a pronounced increase in solvent relaxation (SR) as monitored by time-resolved emission spectra (TRES) in presence of ethanol contribute to the large shifts observable in both lipid systems in case of Prodan. While Patman exhibits a red shift caused by increased SR due to the ethanol induced formation of a fully interdigitated phase in DPPC, hardly any shift occurs in C(18):C(12)-PC, which is supposed not to undergo an ethanol-induced phase transition.
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