Molecular rheology of neuronal membranes explored using a molecular rotor: Implications for receptor function

Abstract

The role of membrane cholesterol as a crucial regulator in the structure and function of membrane proteins and receptors is well documented. However, there is a lack of consensus on the mechanism for such regulation. We have previously shown that the function of an important neuronal receptor, the serotonin1A receptor, is modulated by cholesterol in hippocampal membranes. With an overall objective of addressing the role of 3 membrane physical properties in receptor function, we measured the viscosity of hippocampal membranes of varying cholesterol content using a meso-substituted fluorophore (BODIPY-C12) based on the BODIPY probe. BODIPY-C12 acts as a fluorescent molecular rotor and allows measurement of hippocampal membrane viscosity through its characteristic viscosity-sensitive fluorescence depolarization. A striking feature of our results is that specific agonist binding by the serotonin1A receptor exhibits close correlation with hippocampal membrane viscosity, implying the importance of global membrane properties in receptor function. We envision that our results are important in understanding GPCR regulation by the membrane environment, and is relevant in the context of diseases in which GPCR signaling plays a major role and are characterized by altered membrane fluidity.Abbreviations: 2-AS, 2-(9-anthroyloxy)stearic acid; 12-AS, 12-(9-anthroyloxy)stearic acid; BODIPY, 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene; GPCR, G protein-coupled receptor; 8-12-PC, 1-palmitoyl-2-(12-doxyl)stearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine; DMPC, 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine; DOPC, 1,2-dioleoylsn-glycero-3-phosphocholine; MβCD, methyl-β-cyclodextrin; Tempo-PC, 1,2-dioleoyl-snglycero-3-phosphotempocholine Keywords: Molecular rotor; hippocampal membrane; viscosity; cholesterol; neuronal receptor IntroductionBiological membranes are complex, highly organized, two-dimensional, supramolecular assemblies of a diverse variety of lipids and proteins. The function of membranes is to allow cellular compartmentalization, and impart an identity to individual cells and organelles, besides providing an appropriate environment for proper functioning of membrane proteins. Interestingly, cellular membranes in the nervous system are characterized by very high concentration and remarkable diversity of lipids, and these are correlated with increased complexity in the function of the nervous system (Sastry, 1985;Wenk, 2005). In this context, cholesterol represents an important lipid since brain cholesterol has been implicated in a number of neurological disorders (Chattopadhyay and Paila, 2007;Martín et al., 2014), some of which share a common etiology of defective cholesterol 4 metabolism in the brain (Porter and Herman, 2011). More importantly, the function of neuronal receptors depends on cholesterol (Pucadyil and Chattopadhyay, 2006;Allen et al., 2007;Paila and Chattopadhyay, 2010;Jafurulla and Chattopadhyay, 2013), which affects neurotransmission, resulting in mood and anxiety disorders (Papakostas et al., 2004). In spite of ...

A Molecular Rotor that Measures Dynamic Changes of Lipid Bilayer Viscosity Caused by Oxidative Stress

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