[Is tocopherol a rhodopsin stabilizer in photoreceptor membranes?]

To elucidate the mechanisms of stabilization of biomembranes by tocopherols, the effect of alpha-tocopherol on thermal stability of rhodopsin in photoreceptor membranes of walleye pollock was studied. It was shown that alpha-tocopherol changed the rate constants of rhodopsin thermal denaturation neither in native, nor in peroxidised or treated with phospholipase A2 rod outer segments. Substitution of phospholipid microenvironment of rhodopsin in photoreceptor membrane by alpha-tocopherol did not result in stabilization of the visual pigment too.