title: Hydrostatic Pressure Promotes Domain Formation in Model Lipid Raft Membranes.
abstract: Neutron diffraction measurements demonstrate that hydrostatic pressure promotes liquid-ordered (Lo) domain formation in lipid membranes prepared as both oriented multilayers and unilamellar vesicles made of a canonical ternary lipid mixture for which demixing transitions have been extensively studied. The results demonstrate an unusually large dependence of the mixing transition on hydrostatic pressure. Additionally, data at 28 °C show that the magnitude of increase in Lo caused by 10 MPa pressure is much the same as the decrease in Lo produced by twice minimum alveolar concentrations (MAC) of general anesthetics such as halothane, nitrous oxide, and xenon. Therefore, the results may provide a plausible explanation for the reversal of general anesthesia by hydrostatic pressure.
authors.affiliation: NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology , Gaithersburg 20899, Maryland, United States.|Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California , Irvine 92697, California, United States.
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Worcester
authors.affiliation: NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology , Gaithersburg 20899, Maryland, United States.|Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health , 31 Center Drive, Bethesda 20892, Maryland, United States.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weinrich
mesh_terms: D006221:Halothane / Q000737:chemistry; D006874:Hydrostatic Pressure; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D021962:Membrane Microdomains / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D033363:Neutron Diffraction; D009609:Nitrous Oxide / Q000737:chemistry; D053838:Scattering, Small Angle; D013696:Temperature; D014978:Xenon / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D014978:Xenon; D009609:Nitrous Oxide; D006221:Halothane