Absorption of nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by biomembrane models: effect of the medium lipophilicity.
To demonstrate the relationship between the structure of nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their effect on biomembranes, we have investigated the influence of three structurally different nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 2-nitrofluorene, 2,7-dinitrofluorene and 3-nitrofluoranthene, on the thermotropic behavior of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine multilamellar vesicles, used as biomembrane models, by means of differential scanning calorimetry. The obtained results indicate that the studied nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons affected the thermotropic behavior of multilamellar vesicles to various extents, modifying the pretransition and the main phase transition peaks and shifting them to lower temperatures. The effect of the aqueous and lipophilic medium on the absorption process of these compounds by the biomembrane models has been also investigated revealing that the process is hindered by the aqueous medium but strongly allowed by the lipophilic medium.
Castelli
Francesco
F
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università degli Studi di Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy. fcastelli@dipchi.unict.it
Micieli
Dorotea
D
Ottimo
Sara
S
Minniti
Zelica
Z
Sarpietro
Maria Grazia
MG
Librando
Vito
V
D000042:Absorption; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology*; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000737:chemistry; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008954:Models, Biological; D044367:Phase Transition; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine