title: The effects of 7-dehydrocholesterol on the structural properties of membranes.
abstract: Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, a congenital and developmental malformation disease, is typified by abnormal accumulation of 7-dehydrocholesterol (7DHC), the immediate precursor of cholesterol (CHOL), and depletion thereof. Knowledge of the effect of 7DHC on the biological membrane is, however, still fragmentary. In this study, large-scale atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, employing two distinct force fields, have been conducted to elucidate differences in the structural properties of a hydrated dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer due to CHOL and 7DHC. The present series of results indicate that CHOL and 7DHC possess virtually the same ability to condense and order membranes. Furthermore, the condensing and ordering effects are shown to be strengthened at increasing sterol concentrations.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yingzhe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chipot
authors.forename: Xueguang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Wensheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000378:metabolism; D003684:Dehydrocholesterols / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation
chemical_list: D003684:Dehydrocholesterols; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D002784:Cholesterol; C016705:7-dehydrocholesterol