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Alcohol's effects on lipid bilayer properties.

Helgi I Ingólfsson1, Olaf S Andersen

  • 1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA. hei2001@med.cornell.edu

Biophysical Journal
|August 17, 2011
PubMed
Summary

Aliphatic alcohols alter cell membrane properties, influencing biological effects. This study demonstrates a chain-length-dependent cutoff effect in membrane modification, even without direct protein interaction.

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Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Membrane Biophysics
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Alcohols modulate lipid bilayer properties, influencing biological effects.
  • Biological actions of alcohols are debated: direct protein interaction vs. membrane modification.
  • The alcohol cutoff effect, where efficacy plateaus with chain length, is observed across various assays.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether alcohols' biological actions stem from direct protein interactions or general membrane property changes.
  • To determine the bilayer-modifying potency of aliphatic alcohols across a range of chain lengths.
  • To elucidate the mechanism behind the alcohol cutoff effect.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a gramicidin-based fluorescence assay to measure bilayer-modifying potency.
  • Tested 27 aliphatic alcohols with carbon chain lengths from 1 to 16.
  • Quantified alcohol partitioning into lipid bilayers.

Main Results:

  • All tested alcohols (C1-C16) altered bilayer properties as detected by a bilayer-spanning channel.
  • Short-chain alcohol potency linearly correlated with bilayer partitioning.
  • Potency tapered off with increasing chain length, eventually reversing sign for long-chain alcohols, showing a cutoff effect.

Conclusions:

  • Aliphatic alcohols demonstrate a chain-length-dependent cutoff effect on bilayer properties.
  • This cutoff effect occurs in a system lacking a specific alcohol-binding pocket, suggesting membrane perturbation as the primary mechanism.
  • The findings highlight the significant role of lipid bilayer modification in alcohol's biological actions.