Molecular Diffusion of ABCA1 at the Cell Surface of Living Cells Assessed by svFCS

Extensive studies showed the crucial role of ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter ABCA1 in organizing the lipid microenvironment at the plasma membrane (PM) of living cells. However, the exact role of this protein in terms of lipid redistribution and lateral reorganization of the PM is still being discussed. Here, we took advantage of the spot variation fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (svFCS) to investigate the molecular dynamics of the ABCA1 expressed at the PM of Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-K1). We confirmed that this protein is strongly confined into the raft nanodomains. Next, in agreement with our previous observations, we showed that amphotericin B does not affect the diffusion properties of an active ABCA1 in contrary to inactive mutant ABCA1MM. We also evidenced that ApoA1 influences the molecular diffusion properties of ABCA1. Finally, we showed that the molecular confinement of ABCA1 depends on the cholesterol content in the PM, but presumably, this is not the only factor responsible for that. We concluded that the molecular dynamics of ABCA1 strongly depends on its activity and the PM composition. We hypothesize that other factors than lipids (i.e., proteins) are responsible for the strong confinement of ABCA1 in PM nanodomains which possibility has to be elucidated.