Interactions of alkali metal chlorides with phosphatidylcholine vesicles

We study the interaction of alkali metal chlorides with lipid vesicles made of palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC). An elaborate set of techniques is used to investigate the binding process at physiological conditions. The alkali cation binding to POPC is characterized thermodynamically using isothermal titration calorimetry. The isotherms show that for all ions in the alkali group the binding process is endothermic, counterintuitively to what is expected for Coulomb interactions between the slightly negatively charged POPC liposomes and the cations. The process is entropy driven and presumably related to the liberation of water molecules from the hydration shells of the ions and the lipid headgroups. The measured molar enthalpies of the binding of the ions follows the Hofmeister series. The binding constants were also estimated, whereby lithium shows the strongest affinity to POPC membranes, followed by the rest of the ions according to the Hofmeister series. Cation adsorption increases the net surface potential of the vesicles as observed from electrophoretic mobility and zeta potential measurements. While lithium adsorption leads to slightly positive zeta potentials above a concentration of 100 mM, the adsorption of the rest of the ions mainly causes neutralization of the membrane. This is the first study characterizing the binding equilibrium of alkali metal chlorides to phosphatidylcholine membranes at physiological salt concentrations.