Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 7, 2026
10:02
Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy as a Unique Probe for Lipid Membrane Dynamics and Membrane-Protein Interactions
Published on: May 27, 2021
4.6K
Phase separation in ceramide[NP] containing lipid model membranes: neutron diffraction and solid-state NMR
Annett Schroeter1, Sören Stahlberg2, Barbora Školová3
1Institute of Pharmacy, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.
Soft Matter
|February 23, 2017
Summary
This study reveals how skin barrier lipids, including ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids, organize into distinct lamellar phases. Understanding these lipid structures is key to improving skin barrier function and hydration.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Materials Science
- Dermatology
Background:
- The stratum corneum, the skin's outer layer, relies on a specific lipid composition (ceramides, fatty acids, cholesterol) for barrier function.
- The precise structural arrangement and conformation of these lipids, particularly ceramides, remain incompletely understood, hindering barrier repair strategies.
- Previous research has not reached a consensus on the exact organization of stratum corneum lipids.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the structural organization and conformational behavior of a model stratum corneum lipid mixture (CER[NP]-C24/CHOL/TA) at a 1:1:1 molar ratio.
- To elucidate the lipid phase behavior and ceramide conformation under varying temperatures using advanced biophysical techniques.
Main Methods:
- Utilized neutron diffraction and deuterium (2H) solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
- Employed deuterated lipid variants for separate phase investigation and quantification.
- Analyzed samples across a temperature range of 25 °C to 80 °C.
Main Results:
- Observed the coexistence of two distinct lipid lamellar phases with repeat spacings of 54.2 Å and 43.0 Å at 32 °C.
- Identified both phases as crystalline, with limited ceramide rotation on the microsecond timescale.
- Demonstrated the transition to more fluid and isotropically mobile lipid phases upon heating, proposing specific ceramide conformations (hairpin and V-shape) for each phase.
Conclusions:
- The study proposes a detailed model for the organization of stratum corneum lipids, differentiating the structures of the two observed lamellar phases.
- The findings provide crucial insights into ceramide conformation within the skin barrier, essential for understanding barrier integrity and developing targeted therapies.
- This research advances our knowledge of skin lipid organization and its implications for barrier function and dermatological applications.
Related Concept Videos
01:15¹H NMR of Conformationally Flexible Molecules: Variable-Temperature NMR
1.8K
The axial and equatorial protons in cyclohexane can be distinguished by performing a variable-temperature NMR experiment. In this process, except for one proton, the remaining eleven protons are replaced by deuterium. The deuterium substitution avoids the possible peak splitting caused by the spin-spin coupling between the adjacent protons. The remaining proton flips between the axial and equatorial positions.
1.8K
00:52¹H NMR of Conformationally Flexible Molecules: Temporal Resolution
1.4K
At room temperature, the chair conformer of cyclohexane undergoes rapid ring flipping between two equivalent chair conformers at a rate of approximately 105 times per second. These two chair conformers are in equilibrium. The rapid ring flipping results in the interconversion of the axial proton to an equatorial proton and an equatorial to the axial proton. Such interconversions are too rapid and cannot be detected on the NMR timescale. Hence, the NMR spectrometer cannot distinguish between the...
1.4K
01:04¹³C NMR: ¹H–¹³C Decoupling
2.0K
The probability of having two carbon-13 atoms next to each other is negligible because of the low natural abundance of carbon-13. Consequently, peak splitting due to carbon-carbon spin-spin coupling is not observed in spectra. However, protons up to three sigma bonds away split the carbon signal according to the n+1 rule, resulting in complicated spectra.
A broadband decoupling technique is used to simplify these complex, sometimes overlapping, signals. Broadband decoupling relies on a...
A broadband decoupling technique is used to simplify these complex, sometimes overlapping, signals. Broadband decoupling relies on a...
2.0K
01:13¹H NMR: Complex Splitting
2.1K
A proton M that is coupled to a proton X results in doublet signals for M. However, NMR-active nuclei can be simultaneously coupled to more than one nonequivalent nucleus. When M is coupled to a second proton A, such as in styrene oxide, each peak in the doublet is split into another doublet.
Splitting diagrams or splitting tree diagrams are routinely used to depict such complex couplings. While drawing splitting diagrams, the splitting with the larger coupling constant is usually applied...
Splitting diagrams or splitting tree diagrams are routinely used to depict such complex couplings. While drawing splitting diagrams, the splitting with the larger coupling constant is usually applied...
2.1K