16 research outputs found

    7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole-4-yl-labeled phospholipids in lipid membranes: differences in fluorescence behavior

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    Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence properties of the 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1, 3-diazole-4-yl (NBD) fluorophore attached either to the sn-2 acyl chain of various phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, and phosphatidic acid) or to the polar headgroup of phosphatidylethanolamine were studied after insertion of these NBD-labeled lipid probes into unilamellar vesicles of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidic acid, and phosphatidylserine. The fluorescence response of the NBD group was observed to strongly depend on the chemical structure and physical state of the host phospholipids and on the chemical structure of the lipid probe itself. Among the various fluorescence parameters studied, i.e., Stokes' shifts, lifetimes, and quantum yields, the quantum yields were by far the most affected by these structural and environmental factors, whereas the Stokes' shifts were practically unaffected. Thus, depending on the phospholipid probe and the host phospholipid, the fluorescence emission of the NBD group was found to vary by a factor of up to 5. Careful analysis of the data shows that for the various couples of probe and host lipid molecules studied, deexcitation of the fluorophore was dominated by nonradiative deactivation processes. This great sensitivity of the NBD group to environmental factors originates from its well-known solvatochromic properties, and comparison of these knr values with those obtained for n-propylamino-NBD in a set of organic solvents covering a large scale of polarity indicates that in phospholipids, the NBD fluorophore experiences a dielectric constant of around 27–41, corresponding to a medium of relatively high polarity. From these epsilon values and on the basis of models of the dielectric transition that characterizes any water-phospholipid interface, it can be inferred that for all of the phospholipid probes and host phospholipids tested, the NBD group is located in the region of the polar headgroups, near the phosphoglycerol moiety of the lipids

    Use of a fluorescent aminodeoxylactitol to measure the stability of anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers by spectrofluorimetry

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    International audienceThe dissociation constants (KD) of anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers have been evaluated spectroscopically by means of fluorescent analogs of the aminolactitol which is involved in the stoichiometric ion pairing systems comprising PolyPhosphorHydrazone (PPH) dendrimers with various types of organic acid surface functions. This study elucidates the origin of the low therapeutic index of these anti-HIV catanionic dendrimers which were previously reported to exhibit in vitro anti-HIV activity in the sub-micromolar range

    Immobilization of lipid substrates: application on phospholipase A2 determination

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    The purpose of the study was to assess a fluorimetric assay for the determination of total phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity in biological samples introducing the innovation of immobilized substrates on crosslinked polymeric membranes. The immobilized C12-NBD-PtdCho, a fluorescent analogue of phosphatidylcholine, exhibited excellent stability for 3 months at 4 °C and was not desorbed in the aqueous reaction mixture during analysis. The limit of detection was 0.5 pmol FA (0.2 pg) and the linear part of the response curve extended from 1 up to 190 nmol FA/h/mL sample. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (%RSD), were ≤6 and ≤9 %, respectively. Statistical comparison with other fluorescent methods showed excellent correlation and agreement. Semiempirical calculations showed a fair amount of electrostatic interaction between the NBD-labeled substrate and the crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol with the styryl pyridinium residues (PVA-SbQ) material, from the plane of which, the sn-2 acyl chain of the phospholipid stands out and is accessible by PLA2. Atomic Force Microscopy revealed morphological alterations of the immobilized substrate after the reaction with PLA2. Mass spectrometry showed that only C12-NBD-FA, the PLA2 hydrolysis product, was detected in the reaction mixture, indicating that PLA2 recognizes PVA-SbQ/C12-NBD-PtdCho as a surface to perform catalysis.</p
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