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Microviscosity in lecithin liposomes: effect of nicotinic acid
M Bhattacharyya1, B B Bhowmik, P Nandy
1Department of Physics and Chemistry, Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India.
Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics
|May 15, 1988
Abstract:
We have studied the effect of nicotinic acid, a drug commonly used as a vasodilatory agent and also for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, on the fluidity profile of liposomes of egg lecithin and dipalmitoyl lecithin, using a fluorescent polarization probe. In both cases the drug decreases the membrane fluidity and for cholesterol-probed liposomes, it disrupts the "intermediate fluid condition" induced by cholesterol. The drug also affects the activation energy for diffusion in the hydrophobic region of the liposomes.