Cholesterol-rich fluid membranes solubilize ceramide domains: implications for the structure and dynamics of mammalian intracellular and plasma membranes.

ABSTRACT: A uniquely sensitive method for ceramide domain detection allowed us to study in detail cholesterol-ceramide interactions in lipid bilayers with low (physiological) ceramide concentrations, ranging from low or no cholesterol (a situation similar to intracellular membranes, such as endoplasmic reticulum) to high cholesterol (similar to mammalian plasma membrane). Diverse fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy experiments were conducted showing that for low cholesterol amounts ceramide segregates into gel domains that disappear upon increasing cholesterol levels. This was observed in different raft (sphingomyelin/cholesterol-containing) and non-raft (sphingomyelin-absent) membranes, i.e. mimicking different types of cell membranes. Cholesterol-ceramide interactions have been described main

SUBMITTER: Castro BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2755705 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature