Spectrofluorimetric methods for the measurement of the so called "microviscosity" of lipidic structures

The cellular interactions involving the membrane depend on its physico-chemical nature and on the topographical distribution of the membrane receptors. At present, the role of the lipidic regions is not well defined; however, it is known than the fluidity or "microviscosity" of the lipidic components controls important processes in cellular biology. Different spectrofluorimetric methods, continuous or time resolved, susceptible to the cohesion of lipidic regions have been developed: 1. The anisotropy of fluorescence where the rotation of probes is studied (linked to the coefficient of diffusional rotation). 2. The inhibition of fluorescence where the kinetics of the reaction is practically diffusion controlled. 3. The formation of emissive intramolecular complexes where the internal rotations of interchromophoric bonds are studied. After the development of kinetic models, the methods have been tested with synthetic and natural organized assemblies. The values of "microviscosity" obtained with these methods may be different because the environments of probes are different. Therefore, the concept of "microviscosity", applied to biological membranes is limited.