Regular paper
Lipid modulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor function: the role of membrane lipid composition and fluidity

https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-2736(94)90233-XGet rights and content

Abstract

The effects of membrane lipid composition and fluidity on AChR ion channel function were studied after reconstituting the receptor with sphingomyelin, phosphatidylcholines with different degrees of unsaturation, or different neutral lipids. AChR ion flux activity was shown to be retained in some membranes of both high and low fluidity, as measured by the steady-state anisotropy of the membrane probes diphenylhexatriene and trimethylammonium diphenylhexatriene. The results suggest that lipid composition is more important than bulk membrane fluidity in determining AChR ion channel function.

References (17)

  • P.L. Yeagle

    Biochim. Biophys. Acta

    (1985)
  • J.M. East et al.

    J. Biol. Chem.

    (1984)
  • M.G. McNamee et al.

    Neuroscience

    (1982)
  • C. Sunshine et al.

    Biochim. Biophys. Acta

    (1992)
  • R. Tampe et al.

    Biochim. Biophys. Acta

    (1989)
  • T.M. Fong et al.

    Biochemistry

    (1985)
  • D.C. Mitchell et al.

    Biochemistry

    (1990)
  • D.L. Bigelow et al.

    Biochemistry

    (1986)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (107)

  • Common binding sites for cholesterol and neurosteroids on a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel

    2019, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids
  • Reconstitution of Ion Channels in Planar Lipid Bilayers: New Approaches

    2018, Advances in Biomembranes and Lipid Self-Assembly
    Citation Excerpt :

    A change in the membrane fluidity must equally alter the rate of the conformational transition in both directions (forward vs backward), since the ratio of that rates is equal to the time-independent equilibrium constant. Indeed, the acetylcholine receptor, a ligand-gated ion channel, exhibited similar ability to function in liposomal membrane of both high and low fluidity [119]. Moreover, this study suggested that the lipid composition plays a more important role in the activity of acetylcholine receptors than the bulk membrane fluidity, as measured by the steady-state anisotropy of two membrane probes controlling the order of different membrane domains.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text