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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

ABCG5/G8 Crystallization in a Lipidic Bicelle Environment for X-Ray Crystallography
Published on: August 25, 2023
Conformational changes in stratum corneum lipids by effect of bicellar systems
Gelen Rodríguez1, Lucyanna Barbosa-Barros, Laia Rubio
1Departament de Tecnologia Química i de Tensioactius, Institut de Química Avancada de Catalunya (IQAC), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), C/ Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. gelen.rodriguez@iiqab.csic.es
Abstract:
Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was applied to study the effects of the bicelles formed by dimyristoyl-glycero-phosphocholine (DMPC) and dihexanoyl-glycero-phosphocholine (DHPC) in porcine stratum corneum (SC) in vitro. A comparison of skin samples treated and untreated with bicelles at different temperatures was carried out. The analysis of variations after treatment in the position of the symmetric CH2 stretching, CH2 scissoring, and CH2 rocking vibrations reported important information about the effect of bicelles on the skin. Bicellar systems caused a phase transition from the gel or solid state to the liquid crystalline state in the lipid conformation of SC, reflecting the major order-disorder transition from hexagonally packed to disordered chains. Grazing incidence small and wide X-ray scattering (GISAXS and GIWAXS) techniques confirmed this effect of bicelles on the SC. These results are probably related to with the permeabilizing effect previously described for the DMPC/DHPC bicelles.
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