Logo image
Model and cell membrane partitioning of perfluorooctanesulfonate is independent of the lipid chain length
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Model and cell membrane partitioning of perfluorooctanesulfonate is independent of the lipid chain length

Wei Xie, Gabriele Ludewig, Kai Wang and Hans-Joachim Lehmler
Colloids and surfaces, B, Biointerfaces, Vol.76(1), pp.128-136
2010
DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2009.10.025
PMCID: PMC2818369
PMID: 19932010

View Online

Abstract

Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) is a persistent environmental pollutant that may cause adverse health effects in humans and animals by interacting with and disturbing of the normal properties of biological lipid assemblies. To gain further insights into these interactions, we investigated the effect of PFOS potassium salt on dimyristoyl- (DMPC), dipalmitoyl- (DPPC) and distearoylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC) model membranes using fluorescence anisotropy measurements and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and on the cell membrane of HL-60 human leukemia cells and freshly isolated rat alveolar macrophages using fluorescence anisotropy measurements. PFOS produced a concentration-dependent decrease of the main phase transition temperature ( T m) and an increased peak width (Δ T w) in both the fluorescence anisotropy and the DSC experiments, with a rank order DMPC > DPPC > DSPC. PFOS caused a fluidization of the gel phase of all phosphatidylcholines investigated, but had the opposite effect on the liquid-crystalline phase. The apparent partition coefficients of PFOS between the phosphatidylcholine bilayer and the bulk aqueous phase were largely independent of the phosphatidylcholine chain length and ranged from 4.4 × 10 4 to 8.8 × 10 4. PFOS also significantly increased the fluidity of membranes of cells. These findings suggest that PFOS readily partitions into lipid assemblies, independent of their composition, and may cause adverse biological effects by altering their fluidity in a manner that depends on the membrane cooperativity and state (e.g., gel versus liquid-crystalline phase) of the lipid assembly.
Differential scanning calorimetry Phosphatidylcholines HL-60 human leukemia cells Fluorescence anisotropy Cooperativity DPH TMA-DPH Alveolar macrophages

Details

Metrics

55 readers on Mendeley
1 readers on CiteULike
Logo image