DASSIE SERGIO ALBERTO
Congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Externally applied electric fields on immiscible lipid monolayers: repulsion between condensed domains precludes domain migration
Autor/es:
N. WILKE, S. A. DASSIE, E.P.M. LEIVA, B. MAGGIO
Lugar:
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Reunión:
Workshop; Eighth J. J. Giambiagi winter school (B) “Physics and Biology reloaded”; 2006
Resumen:

Intrinsic electrostatic features of lipid and protein molecules anisotropically oriented at a hydrocarbon-aqueous interface can act as sensitive local and long-range sensors of the electric properties along and across a biomembrane interface. The resultant dipole moment densities, in conjunction with line tension forces, are major factors responsible for the individual morphology of coexisting phase domains as well as their lattice organization along the surface. Electromagnetic fields imposed on biosystems induce varied effects such as dynamic modifications of membrane topology, cellular function, protein phosphorylation as well as activation of membrane-associated enzymes. Selective domain morphology with boundary defects, lattice super-structuring, and dipole-generated electric fields along the lateral/transverse planes of the membrane surface constitute regulatory mechanisms for lipase catalysis, phase transitions and lateral domain migration and channel conductance. In this work we investigate the effect of externally applied electrostatic fields on the distribution of the condensed domains in immiscible binary monolayers of sm:cer, dmpc:dspc and dlpc:dspc. We demonstrate that for the positively charged upper electrode, the electric field promotes migration of the domains until a steady state is reached in which a circular constant-size exclusion zone of domains is achieved. We analyze the dependence of R0 on the externally applied potential and a model is proposed to explain the acquisition of a steady state, regarding the behavior of the segregated surface domains, in terms of the forces involved in their lateral displacement.