Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “LIPIDS”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources

The evaluation of lipid peroxidation and acute effect of octreotide on lipid peroxidation in patients with active acromegaly.

BACKGROUND: Although lipid peroxidation has been suggested to play a role in the etiology of many diseases, there is no report about its role in acromegaly in the literature. In the present study, we analyzed the basal levels of lipid peroxides (LPO) in newly diagnosed acromegalic patients, and to evaluate whether octreotide (OCT) has any effect on lipid peroxidation in these patients. METHODS: Plasma lipid peroxide levels before and after acute OCT administration were measured in 12 newly diagnosed acromegalic patients. Blood samples were drawn at basal and 4, 8, and 24 h after octreotide injection (100 microg s.c.). Plasma concentrations of lipid peroxides were estimated from measurement of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), using 1,1,3,3-tetra-ethoxypropane as a standard. RESULTS: This study shows that acromegalic patients have significantly higher basal plasma lipid peroxides levels compared to hours after OCT injection (p<0.001). Although a significant decrease was observed after 8 and 24 h in comparison to basal level (p<0.001), the lipid peroxide levels tended to increase at 24 h though still low when compared to basal level. CONCLUSION: Acromegalic patients have high basal lipid peroxide levels, which was significantly decreased after OCT administration.

Acromegaly↗

Effects of the Tibetan herbal preparation PADMA 28 on blood lipids and lipid oxidisability in subjects with mild hypercholesterolaemia.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies showed an anti-atherosclerotic effect of PADMA 28, an herbal formula based on Tibetan medicine. As the mechanisms of action are not fully understood, we investigated whether PADMA 28 may lower blood lipids and lipid oxidisability, and affect early endothelial dysfunction. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty otherwise healthy subjects with total cholesterol > or = 5.2 mmol/l and < 8.0 mmol/l were randomly assigned to placebo or PADMA 28, 3 x 2 capsules daily, for 4 weeks (double-blind). Blood lipids (total, LDL-, and HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, Apo-lipoprotein A1 and B) and ex vivo lipid oxidisability were measured before and after treatment. In a subset of 24 subjects, endothelial function was assessed using venous occlusion plethysmography with intraarterial infusion of acetylcholine. Isolated LDL and plasma both untreated and pre-treated with PADMA 28 extract were oxidised by the radical generator AAPH. Conjugated diene formation was measured at 245 nm. RESULTS: Blood lipids did not change during the study in both groups. In contrast to previous reports in mild hypercholesterolaemia, no endothelial dysfunction was seen and, consequently, was not influenced by therapy. Ex vivo blood lipid oxidisability was significantly reduced with PADMA 28 (area undercurve: 5.29 +/- 1.62 to 4.99 +/- 1.46, p = 0.01), and remained unchanged in the placebo group (5.33 +/- 1.88 to 5.18 +/- 1.78, p > 0. 1). This effect persisted one week after cessation of medication. In vitro experiments confirmed the prevention of lipid peroxidation in the presence of PADMA 28 extracts. Persistent protection was also seen for LDL isolated from PADMA 28-pretreated blood after being subjected to rigorous purification. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the inhibition of blood lipid oxidisability by PADMA 28 may play a role in its anti-atherosclerotic effect.

Adult↗

Lipid hydroperoxides and free radical scavenging enzyme activities in preeclampsia and HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count) syndrome: no evidence for circulating primary products of lipid peroxidation.

OBJECTIVE: Preeclampsia is reportedly accompanied by increased plasma lipid peroxidation. However, to date the assays that have been applied to measure lipid peroxides have been relatively nonspecific. A highly specific high-performance lipid chromatographic-chemiluminescence technique was used here to measure lipid hydroperoxides in plasma and red blood cells of patients with preeclampsia and HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count) syndrome. STUDY DESIGN: Lipid peroxidation products, both lipid hydroperoxides and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and free radical scavenging enzyme activities were measured in either plasma or erythrocytes of patients with normal pregnancies (n = 36), preeclampsia (n = 28), or HELLP syndrome (n = 10). RESULTS: Whereas lipid hydroperoxides were undetectable (<0.02 micromol/L), plasma TBARS and glutathione peroxidase activity in plasma and erythrocytes were significantly increased in patients with HELLP syndrome. There were no differences in glutathione transferase and reductase activities or superoxide dismutase activity between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: We were unable to corroborate results of studies that suggested that increased TBARS are representative of circulating plasma lipid hydroperoxides in preeclampsia. However, elevated glutathione peroxidase activity and TBARS are in line with increased oxidative stress in preeclampsia.

Adult↗

Dietary protein:lipid ratio and lipid nature affects fatty acid absorption and metabolism in a teleost larva.

Studies with teleost larvae have reported poor performance associated with quantitative lipid imbalances in the diet. The present study examined the effect of dietary protein:neutral lipid ratio on fatty acid (FA) absorption efficiency and metabolism in larval Senegalese sole. In addition, the effect of lipid class (triolein (TRI) and l-3-phosphatidylcholine-1,2-di-oleoyl (PC)), carbon number and degree of saturation of the labelled NEFA, stearic acid (SA), oleic acid (OA) and DHA) was tested. FA absorption was determined by tube feeding [1-14C]-labelled lipids and NEFA after a single meal of either non-enriched Artemia (NEA) or Artemia enriched on a soyabean oil emulsion (EA), or after feeding these diets over an extended period of time (18 d). The tested dietary protein:lipid ratios had no short-term influence but long-term feeding of a diet higher in neutral lipid (EA) increased lipid accumulation within the gut epithelium and resulted in lower FA absorption (higher label evacuation and lower retention of dietary FA), which may partially explain the trend for lower growth observed with this diet. The lipids and NEFA, showed different digestive and metabolic properties, independent of feeding regime. FA absorption increased with unsaturation, being lowest for SA, followed by OA, and highest for DHA. In addition, sole larvae had a lower capacity to digest and absorb FA esterified to TRI, compared with PC, with the order of decreasing absorption being NEFA>PC>>TRI. Moreover, larvae appeared to discriminate between the source of OA, as this FA in the free form or esterified to PC was catabolised less than TRI.

Absorption↗

A high dietary lipid intake during pregnancy and lactation enhances mammary gland lipid uptake and lipoprotein lipase activity in rats.

Rats fed a diet with high fat concentration produce larger amounts of milk with a higher lipid concentration than rats fed a lower fat diet. This investigation was designed to study the relationship between dietary fat intake, mammary gland lipid uptake and lipogenesis in rat dams fed, during pregnancy and lactation, one of two purified diets, with equal energy density, containing 2.5 (LL) or 20 g fat/100 g diet (HL). Milk lipid concentration and fatty acid composition were determined at d 14 of lactation. Mammary gland lipogenesis, lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity and the uptake of [1-(14)C]triolein by the mammary gland and its transfer to the pups was measured. The intestinal absorption of oral (14)C-lipid, (14)CO(2) production and the amount of (14)C-lipid transferred to the pups (milk clot + pups carcass) were significantly higher in the HL group than in the LL group (P < 0.05). Mammary gland lipogenesis was 75% lower and LPL activity was 30% higher in the HL group (P < 0.05). Medium-chain fatty acids (C6-C14) excretion was 46% lower and that of long-chain fatty acids was 142% (P < 0.001) higher in the HL group than in the LL group. The higher milk lipid excretion in the rats fed a high-fat diet resulted from a larger uptake of dietary lipid by the mammary gland, indicated by a larger transfer of (14)C-lipid to the pups and by a higher LPL activity in the mammary gland.

Animals↗

Skin surface lipids of the domestic chicken, and neutral lipid standards as stimuli for the penetration response of Austrobilharzia variglandis cercariae.

Lipids were extracted from the skin of 2-wk-old domestic chickens using sterile cotton gauze dampened with chloroform:methanol (2:1). Preparative thin-layer chromatography separated the skin lipids into six major fractions: phospholipids, free sterols, free fatty acids, triglycerides, methyl esters, sterol esters. The penetration response of the marine avian schistosome cercaria, Austrobilharzia variglandis, to chicken skin lipid fractions, and to neutral lipid standards, was tested by coating lipids on agar in a Petri dish containing a seawater overlay. All neutral lipids tested produced significantly greater penetration responses than the chloroform control. The phospholipid skin fraction killed cercariae. Lipid from whole chicken skin produced the greatest penetration response, followed by free fatty acids and free sterol skin fractions. Of the standards tested, the whole neutral lipid standard, containing cholesterol, oleic acid, triolein, methyl oleate, and cholesteryl oleate, produced the greatest response, followed by the cholesterol standard and the oleic acid standard.

Animals↗

Drosophila Lipid Storage Droplet 2 gene (Lsd-2) is expressed and controls lipid storage in wing imaginal discs.

Lipid droplets are the major neutral lipid storage organelles in higher eukaryotes. The PAT domain proteins (Perilipin, ADRP [adipose differentiation related protein], and TIP47 [tail-interacting 47-kDa protein]) are associated with these structures. Perilipin and ADRP are involved in the regulation of lipid storage and metabolism in mammals. Two genes encoding PAT proteins, Drosophila Lipid Storage Droplet 2 Gene (Lsd-2) and Lsd-2, have been identified in Drosophila. Lsd-2 is expressed in fat bodies and in the female germ line and is involved in lipid storage in these tissues. We showed that Lsd-2 is expressed in third-instar wing imaginal discs in Drosophila, with higher levels in the wing pouch, which corresponds to the presumptive wing region of the wing disc. This specific expression pattern is correlated with a high level of neutral lipid accumulation. We also showed that neutral lipid deposition in the wing disc is severely reduced in an Lsd-2 mutant and is increased with Lsd-2 overexpression. Finally, we showed that overexpression of the vestigial (vg) pro-wing gene induces Lsd-2 expression, suggesting that Lsd-2 mediates a vg role during wing formation. Our results suggest that Lsd-2 function is not restricted to tissues directly involved in lipid storage and could play additional roles during development.

Animals↗

Inhibition of S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-L-cysteine-induced lipid peroxidation by antioxidants in rabbit renal cortical slices: dissociation of lipid peroxidation and toxicity.

Precision-cut, rabbit renal slices were used to examine the effects of three novel antioxidants (U-74006, U-74500, and U-78517) on S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-L-cysteine (DCVC)-induced lipid peroxidation and toxicity. Slices exposed to DCVC showed a dose- and time-dependent increase in lipid peroxidation (TBARS) and a decrease in cellular viability, as evidenced by the loss of intracellular potassium, during the course of a 3 hour incubation. Subsequent studies employed DCVC concentrations of 100 microM. Microemulsion formulations of U-78517, U-74500, and U-74006 (100 microM) inhibited DCVC-induced lipid peroxidation by 100 +/-, 50 +/-, and < 5% (not significant), respectively. However, none of these antioxidants had a significant effect on DCVC-dependent cytotoxicity, as indicated by intracellular potassium release. The effects of U-78517, the most potent of the three antioxidants, were similar to those observed with two model antioxidants, diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine (DPPD) and the iron chelator, deferoxamine. Aminooxyacetic (AOAA), an inhibitor of renal cysteine conjugate beta-lyase, had only a minimal effect on DCVC-induced lipid peroxidation, and no effect on toxicity. These data represent the first report of DCVC-induced lipid peroxidation in rabbit renal cortical slices, a system which has been widely used to investigate mechanisms of nephrotoxicity, including that induced by DCVC. Our results demonstrate that DCVC-induced lipid peroxidation in renal slices can be inhibited by a variety of antioxidant compounds operating by different mechanisms. Because inhibition of lipid peroxidation had minimal effect on DCVC-dependent cytotoxicity, the data suggest that DCVC-induced lipid peroxidation is not a major mechanism in the cytotoxicity induced by this compound.

Aminooxyacetic Acid↗

The presence of cytoplasmic lipid droplets is not sufficient to account for neutral lipid signals in the 1H MR spectra of neutrophils.

Stimulation of human peripheral blood neutrophils with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), arachidonic acid (AA) and oleic acid (OA) resulted in significant increases in cytoplasmic lipid droplets. This phenomenon was also observed in enucleated and degranulated cytoplasts prepared from neutrophils stimulated with LPS. In contrast, only LPS and high concentrations of OA (10 microM) produced an increase in the lipid intensities of the MR spectra of neutrophils as determined by COSY cross peak volume measurements. Lipid intensities in cells stimulated with OA (2.5 microM) and AA (2.5 microM) and phorbol myristate acetate (20 nM) were not elevated. LPS stimulation of resting cytoplasts resulted in increased lipid droplets but not MR lipid intensities. These data suggest that while cytoplasmic lipid droplets may correlate with MR lipid intensity under some circumstances, their presence is not sufficient to account for increased neutral lipid signals.

Arachidonic Acid↗

The low-affinity lipid binding site of the non-specific lipid transfer protein. Implications for its mode of action.

The non-specific lipid transfer protein (nsL-TP) from bovine liver was studied by using the following fluorescent lipid analogs: phosphatidylcholine species with a sn-2-pyrenylacyl-chain of different length [Pyr(x)PC], sn-2-pyrenyldecanoyl-labelled phosphatidylinositol [Pyr(10)PI], -phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate [Pyr(10)PIP], -phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [Pyr(10)PIP2] and dehydroergosterol. These analogs provided information on the effect of hydrophobicity and charge on lipid binding and transfer by nsL-TP. Binding of the Pyr(x)PC species decreased with increasing sn-2 acyl-chain length. Under equilibrium conditions, the fraction of nsL-TP that carried a PC molecule did not exceed 8%, which is consistent with a low affinity binding site. Also nsL-TP-mediated transfer of the Pyr(x)PC species decreased with increasing sn-2 acyl-chain length and was highly correlated with spontaneous transfer. Binding of the phosphoinositides increased in the order Pyr(10)PI less than Pyr(10)PIP less than Pyr(10)PIP2, indicating that an increase in lipid negative charge stimulates binding. The transfer of the phosphoinositides, however, decreased in the same order, which suggests that a high negative charge impairs the dissociation of the phospholipid from nsL-TP. Cholesterol, at concentrations up to 50 mol% in the donor membrane, hardly affected binding and transfer of Pyr(6)PC, strongly suggesting that nsL-TP has no high binding affinity for cholesterol. In agreement with this, binding of dehydroergosterol to nsL-TP was not detectable. Despite this apparently negligible affinity, nsL-TP-mediated transfer of dehydroergosterol was in the same order as that of Pyr(6)PC. The results are interpreted to indicate that transfer of lipids by nsL-TP involves the formation of a putative low-affinity lipid-protein complex. This formation is enhanced when lipid hydrophobicity decreases or lipid negative charge increases. Based on the binding and transfer data, the mode of action of nsL-TP is discussed in terms of change in free energy.

Binding Sites↗

(Galacto) lipid export from envelope to thylakoid membranes in intact chloroplasts. II. A general process with a key role for the envelope in the establishment of lipid asymmetry in thylakoid membranes.

The transfer of organelle of newly synthesized lipid molecules from inner envelope to thylakoid membranes, as well as their subsequent transbilayer distribution in these membranes, have been studied in intact chloroplasts isolated from young and mature spinach, young pea and mature lettuce leaves, using a recently developed methodology (Rawyler, A., Meylan, M. and Siegenthaler, P.A. (1992) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1104, 331-341). Three radiolabelled precursors were used. UDP-[14C]galactose allowed to follow the fate of mono- and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG and DGDG) made from polyunsaturated, preexisting diacylglycerol (DAG), whereas [14C]acetate and [14C]glycerol 3-phosphate were used to follow the fate of MGDG and phosphatidylglycerol (PG), respectively, after de novo synthesis. MGDG, DGDG and PG molecules assembled at the envelope level were found to be exportable to thylakoids in amounts strictly proportional to the amounts synthesized, provided that the necessary substrates were not limiting. Lipid export was class-selective; under our conditions, as much as 50-80% of the MGDG, 87% of the PG and 20-30% of the DGDG synthesized were exported to thylakoids. However, within the MGDG class labelled from [14C]acetate, there was hardly any selectivity in the export of its various molecular species. For MGDG, the proportionality coefficient, which reflects the efficiency of the export process, was higher in chloroplasts from young than from mature leaves, and higher in spinach than in pea and lettuce. Temperature affected the efficiency of galactolipid export in a class-dependent way. MGDG synthesis and export had similar Q10 values of about 4 in young and 3 in mature spinach leaves, while the Q10 of DGDG export was higher than that of its synthesis. In most cases, the transmembrane distribution of labelled lipids in thylakoids was found to match closely the corresponding distribution of mass, regardless of plant age and species and of incubation time and temperature. In some cases however, small but significant differences occurred between the label and the mass transbilayer distributions of MGDG (labelled molecules more inwardly oriented), DGDG and PG (more outwardly oriented). We propose a general model in which the thylakoid lipid asymmetry is primarily preestablished in the chloroplast envelope by the topography of its lipid-synthesizing enzymes, together with the occurrence of relatively fast lateral diffusion and translocation rates of the newly synthesized lipids. Transient fusions between inner envelope and thylakoid membranes would allow lipid export by lateral diffusion and build the observed lipid asymmetry in the latter.

Age Factors↗

Successful tear lipid layer treatment for refractory dry eye in office workers by low-dose lipid application on the full-length eyelid margin.

PURPOSE: To test tear lipid layer treatment by low-dose lipid application on the full-length eyelid margin for the treatment of office workers with dry eyes refractory to conventional treatments. DESIGN: Prospective interventional case series. METHODS: Thirty eyes of 30 office workers with dry eyes with dark tear interference images, which did not respond to conventional treatments, were included. To supply lipid using a commercially available nonpreserved topical medication having both polar and nonpolar lipid base, ofloxacin eye ointment (Santen Pharmaceutical, Osaka, Japan) was selected. Low-dose ofloxacin ointment application on the full-length eyelid margin was carried out three times a day for two weeks. The symptom of ocular dryness using a visual analog scale, tear interferometry to assess lipid layer thickness (LLT), corneal fluorescein staining, tear-film breakup time (BUT), and meibum expressibility gradings were compared. RESULTS: After the treatment, the symptom score of ocular dryness decreased from 91.4 +/- 11.9 to 33.6 +/- 21.0 (P < .0001), LLT increased from 39 +/- 4 nm to 161 +/- 91 nm (P < .0001), BUT was prolonged from 2.6 +/- 1.6 seconds to 4.8 +/- 2.1 seconds (P = .01), and meibum expressibility gradings decreased from 2.8 +/- 1.3 to 1.6 +/- 1.3 (P = .0005). CONCLUSION: For office workers with refractory dry eyes, tear lipid layer treatment by low-dose ointment applied on the full-length eyelid margin was shown to be an effective approach. The applied lipid formed a uniform lipid layer, which contributed to tear stability, leading to the improvement of the symptom.

Adult↗

Common co-lipids, in synergy, impart high gene transfer properties to transfection-incompetent cationic lipids.

Efficacious cationic transfection lipids usually need either DOPE or cholesterol as co-lipid to deliver DNA inside the cell cytoplasm in non-viral gene delivery. If both of these co-lipids fail in imparting gene transfer properties, the cationic lipids are usually considered to be transfection inefficient. Herein, using both the reporter gene assay in CHO, COS-1 and HepG2 cells and the whole cell histochemical X-gal staining assay in representative CHO cells, we demonstrate that common co-lipids DOPE, Cholesterol and DOPC, when act in synergy, are capable of imparting improved gene transfer properties to a novel series of cationic lipids (1-5). Contrastingly, lipids 1-5 became essentially transfection-incompetent when used in combination with each of the pure co-lipid components alone.

Animals↗

Alterations of wheat root plasma membrane lipid composition induced by copper stress result in changed physicochemical properties of plasma membrane lipid vesicles.

A response when wheat is grown in excess copper is an altered lipid composition of the root plasma membrane (PM). With detailed characterisation of the root PM lipid composition of the copper-treated plants as a basis, in the present study, model systems were used to gain a wider understanding about membrane behaviour, and the impact of a changed lipid composition.PMs from root cells of plants grown in excess copper (50 microM Cu(2+)) and control (0.3 microM Cu(2+)) were isolated using the two-phase partitioning method. Membrane vesicles were prepared of total lipids extracts from the isolated PMs, and also reference vesicles of phosphatidylcholine (PC). In a series of tests, the vesicle permeability for glucose and for protons was analysed. The vesicles show that copper stress reduced the permeability for glucose of the lipid bilayer barrier. When vesicles from stressed plants were modified by addition of lipids to resemble vesicles from control plants, the permeability for glucose was very similar to that of vesicles from control plants. The permeability for protons did not change upon stress. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) of the lipid vesicles spin probed with n-doxylstearic acid (nDSA) was used to explore the lipid rotational freedom at different depth of the bilayer. The EPR measurements supported the permeability data, indicating that the copper stress resulted in more tightly packed bilayers of the PMs with reduced acyl chain motion.

Cell Membrane↗

Strength of Ca(2+) binding to retinal lipid membranes: consequences for lipid organization.

There is evidence that membranes of rod outer segment (ROS) disks are a high-affinity Ca(2+) binding site. We were interested to see if the high occurrence of sixfold unsaturated docosahexaenoic acid in ROS lipids influences Ca(2+)-membrane interaction. Ca(2+) binding to polyunsaturated model membranes that mimic the lipid composition of ROS was studied by microelectrophoresis and (2)H NMR. Ca(2+) association constants of polyunsaturated membranes were found to be a factor of approximately 2 smaller than constants of monounsaturated membranes. Furthermore, strength of Ca(2+) binding to monounsaturated membranes increased with the addition of cholesterol, while binding to polyunsaturated lipids was unaffected. The data suggest that the lipid phosphate groups of phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylserine (PS) in PC/PE/PS (4:4:1, mol/mol) are primary targets for Ca(2+). Negatively charged serine in PS controls Ca (2+) binding by lowering the electric surface potential and elevating cation concentration at the membrane/water interface. The influence of hydrocarbon chain unsaturation on Ca(2+) binding is secondary compared to membrane PS content. Order parameter analysis of individual lipids in the mixture revealed that Ca(2+) ions did not trigger lateral phase separation of lipid species as long as all lipids remained liquid-crystalline. However, depending on temperature and hydrocarbon chain unsaturation, the lipid with the highest chain melting temperature converted to the gel state, as observed for the monounsaturated phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in PC/PE/PS (4:4:1, mol/mol) at 25 degrees C.

Binding Sites↗

Lipid interaction of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A. Acid-triggered permeabilization and aggregation of lipid vesicles.

We have investigated the interaction of Pseudomonas exotoxin A with small unilamellar vesicles comprised of different phospholipids as a function of pH, toxin, and lipid concentration. We have found that this toxin induces vesicle permeabilization, as measured by the release of a fluorescent dye. Permeabilization is due to the formation of ion-conductive channels which we have directly observed in planar lipid bilayers. The toxin also produces vesicle aggregation, as indicated by an increase of the turbidity. Aggregation and permeabilization have completely different time course and extent upon toxin dose and lipid composition, thus suggesting that they are two independent events. Both time constants decrease by lowering the pH of the bulk phase or by introducing a negative lipid into the vesicles. Our results indicate that at least three steps are involved in the interaction of Pseudomonas exotoxin A with lipid vesicles. After protonation of one charged group the toxin becomes competent to bind to the surface of the vesicles. Binding is probably initiated by an electrostatic interaction because it is absolutely dependent on the presence of acidic phospholipids. Binding is a prerequisite for the subsequent insertion of the toxin into the lipid bilayer, with a special preference for phosphatidylglycerol-containing membranes, to form ionic channels. At high toxin and vesicle concentrations, bound toxin may also induce aggregation of the vesicles, particularly when phosphatidic acid is present in the lipid mixture. A quenching of the intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of the protein, which is induced by lowering the pH of the solution, becomes more drastic in the presence of lipid vesicles. However, this further quenching takes so long that it cannot be a prerequisite to either vesicle permeabilization or aggregation. Pseudomonas exotoxin A shares many of these properties with other bacterial toxins like diphtheria and tetanus toxin.

ADP Ribose Transferases↗

Physical-chemical behavior of dietary and biliary lipids during intestinal digestion and absorption. 2. Phase analysis and aggregation states of luminal lipids during duodenal fat digestion in healthy adult human beings.

Following the feeding of a triacylglycerol-rich meal to healthy adult human beings, duodenal contents were aspirated for ex vivo chemical and physical-chemical analyses. The aspirates were collected during established lipid digestion and absorption into a "cocktail" of chemical inhibitors that rapidly inhibited ex vivo lipolysis. Following ultracentrifugation, the lipids separated into a floating oil layer, several interfacial layers, a "clear" or turbid "subphase", and a precipitated "pellet". By chemical and phase analyses, the floating layer was composed of oil-in-water emulsion particles with cores of triacylglycerol (TG), diacylglycerols (DG), and cholesteryl esters (CE) emulsified with a surface coat of partially ionized fatty acids (FA), monoacylglycerols (MG), diacylphosphatidylcholine (PL), and bile salts (BS). The interfacial layers contained similar emulsion particles dispersed among excess emulsifier which adopted a lamellar liquid-crystalline structure. Precipitated pellets were composed principally of emulsifying lipids, with smaller amounts of crystalline calcium soaps and BS. Relative lipid compositions of all but three subphases fell within a two-phase region of the condensed ternary phase diagram (Staggers et al., 1990, companion paper) where saturated mixed micelles composed of BS, FA "acid-soaps", MG, PL, cholesterol (Ch), and traces of DG (and TG) coexisted with unilamellar liquid-crystalline vesicles composed of the same lipids. Attempts to achieve clean separation of vesicles from micelles by repeat ultracentrifugation failed. Compared with the structure and sizes of lipid particles in equilibrated model systems (Staggers et al., 1990), quasielastic light scattering (QLS) analysis revealed that ex vivo micellar sizes (mean hydrodynamic radii, Rh) were similar (less than or equal to 40 A), whereas unilamellar vesicle sizes (Rh = 200-600 A) were appreciably smaller. Two-component QLS analysis of the subphases showed that much larger proportions of lipids were solubilized by micelles than were dispersed as unilamellar vesicles. When followed as functions of time, vesicles frequently dissolved spontaneously into mixed micelles, indicating that, in the nonequilibrium in vivo conditions, the constituent micellar phase was often unsaturated with lipids. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that, during hydrolysis of emulsified DG and TG by luminal lipases, unilamellar vesicles originate in lamellar liquid crystals that form at emulsion-water interfaces in the upper small intestine. In a BS-replete environment, unilamellar vesicles probably represent the primary dispersed product phase of human fat digestion and facilitate the dissolution of lipolytic products into unsaturated mixed micelles.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗

Regulation of lipid composition in Acholeplasma laidlawii and Escherichia coli membranes: NMR studies of lipid lateral diffusion at different growth temperatures.

Lipid lateral diffusion coefficients have been directly determined by pulsed field gradient NMR spectroscopy on macroscopically aligned, fully hydrated lamellar phases containing dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine and total lipid extracts from Acholeplasma laidlawii and Escherichia coli. The temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient was of the Arrhenius type in the temperature interval studied. The sharp increase in the diffusion coefficient at the growth temperature of E. coli obtained by FRAP measurements, using a fluorescent probe molecule (Jin, A. J., Edidin, M., Nossal, R., and Gershfeld, N. L. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 13275-13278), was not observed. Thus, we conclude that the lipid structural properties (i.e., those affecting the lipid phase behavior), rather than the lipid dynamics, are involved in the adjustment of the membrane lipid composition. Further support for this conclusion is given by the finding that lipid extracts from A. laidlawii grown at different temperatures have about the same diffusion coefficients. Finally, the lipid lateral diffusion in bilayers of phospholipids was found to be much faster than that in bilayers of mainly glucolipids, which can be understood in terms of a free volume theory for the diffusion process.

Acholeplasma laidlawii↗