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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Construction of Model Lipid Membranes Incorporating G-protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs)
Published on: February 5, 2022
Arsenite interactions with phospholipid bilayers as molecular models for the human erythrocyte membrane
Mario Suwalsky1, Cecilia Rivera, Fernando Villena
1Faculty of Chemical Sciences,University of Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile. msuwalskudec.cl
Abstract:
There are scanty reports concerning the effects of arsenic compounds on the structure and functions of cell membranes. With the aim to better understand the molecular mechanisms of the interaction of arsenite with cell membranes we have utilized bilayers of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DMPE), representative of phospholipid classes located in the outer and inner monolayers of the human erythrocyte membrane, respectively. The capacity of arsenite to perturb the bilayer structures was determined by X-ray diffraction and fluorescence spectroscopy, whilst the modification of their thermotropic behaviour was followed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The experiments carried out by X-ray diffraction and calorimetry clearly indicated that NaAsO(2) interacted with DMPE and modified its thermotropic behaviour. No such information has been so far reported in the literature.
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