Physical properties of membrane lipids in rat salivary glands. Involvement of cholesterol.

概要

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The effects of cholesterol on the membrane fluidity of phospholipid liposomes from rat salivary glands were observed by the ESR technique using two kinds of fatty acid spin probes. When using egg phosphatidylcholine liposomes, the membrane fluidity decreased due to the increase of cholesterol (0-400 mmol/mol of phospholipid) and its rate was linear. These observations were similar in not only the hydrophilic but also the hydrophobic region of the membrane bilayer. On the other hand, the cholesterol contents in the three major rat salivary glands were 335, 284 and 286 mmol/mol of total gland phospholipids in the parotid, submandibular and sublingual glands, respectively. Although the membrane fluidities of total phospholipids in the three salivary glands were similar in spite of their differences in phospholipid and its fatty acid compositions, by the addition of cholesterol (300 mmol/mol of phospholipids), membrane fluidities decreased in the order of parotid>submandibular>sublingual glands. This decrease was larger in the hydrophobic region than in the hydrophilic one. These results suggest that cholesterol affects the membrane physical properties of each salivary gland in a different manner and membrane fluidity might be optimally provided for each unique membrane function in salivary glands.
歯科基礎医学会の論文