Deuteration of water enables self-organization of phospholipid-based reverse micelles.

Phospholipid-based reverse micelles are composed of branched cylinders. Their branching points are known to attract themselves and to slide along branches. The rate of this sliding is governed by the lifetime of H(D)-bonded water bridges between phospholipid molecules. This lifetime is increased when the water is deuterated. On condition that the water contains at least 40 D atoms%, water/dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC)/deuterated pyridine reverse micelles with the composition 1.1:1:250 (v/v) have been shown to self-organize into a liquid crystal in the 310-316 K temperature range. The mechanism of this self-organization is unraveled by following the FTIR and (1)H NMR spectra of more concentrated micelles upon heating. During the preparation of micelles, pyridine-(D(+))H(+) ions are formed. They give rise to hydron transfers, under the influence of the DPPC electric charges, evidenced by two broad FTIR absorptions above (BB1) and below (BB2) the nu(C-O) stretch. These hydron transfers occur along strong (D(+))H(+) bonds of pyridinium ions with pyridine (BB1) and DPPC C=O groups (BB2). The proton transfers at the interface of micelles, relayed in the continuous pyridine medium, create a tenuous link between separated micelles, thus facilitating their organization. Upon heating, DPPC heads shrink and DPPC chains expand to make wedge-shaped DPPC molecules. The micelles then change in shape: cylinders constrict and enclosed water drifts towards branching points, which swell. Branching points of neighboring micelles come into contact. Due to the deuteration of water these contacts are prolonged and H bonds are formed between DPPC molecules located in each branching point. Upon storage at 39 degrees C, these branching points fuse. The lateral diffusion of DPPC molecules becomes free, as evidenced by a narrowing of all (1)H NMR resonances. Upon further heating, reorganization into a liquid crystal occurs.

Water isotope effect on the phosphatidylcholine bilayer properties: a molecular dynamics simulation study.

Physicochemical properties of heavy water (D2O) differ to some extent from those of normal water. Substituting D2O for H2O has been shown to affect the structural and dynamic properties of proteins, but studies of its effects on lipid bilayers are scarce. In this paper, the atomic level molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method was used to determine the effects of this substitution on the properties of a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayer and its hydrating water. MD simulations of two DPPC bilayers, one fully hydrated with H2O and the other with D2O, were carried out for over 50 ns. For H2O, the simple point charge (SPC) model was used, and for D2O, the extended SPC-HW model was employed. Analyses of the simulation trajectories indicate that several properties of the membrane core and the membrane/water interface are affected by replacing H2O by D2O. However, the time-averaged properties, such as membrane compactness, acyl chain order, and numbers of PC-water H (D)-bonds and PC-PC water bridges, are much less affected than time-resolved properties. In particular, the lifetimes of these interactions are much longer for D2O molecules than for H2O ones. These longer lifetimes results in a slightly better ordering of the D2O molecules and average self-diffusion, which is 50% slower compared with the H2O molecules. This large isotope effect has been assigned to the repercussions of the longer lived D-bonding to DPPC headgroups insofar as all water molecules sense the presence of the DPPC bilayer.

Different properties of H2O- and D2O-containing phospholipid-based reverse micelles near a critical temperature.

Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC)/water/pyridine reverse micelles have been found to transform from a clear liquid into a glass when the DPPC-to-water volume fraction is in the 0.78-0.89 range at 28 or 26 degrees C depending on whether water is H2O or D2O. Their study by SANS, FT-IR, and 1H NMR for this composition has shown remarkable effects of the isotopic nature of water on their structural and dynamic properties. By SANS, between 38 and 43.5 degrees C, micelles appear as either flexible polymer-like cylinders or short rods depending on whether water is H2O or D2O. On the basis of this dual aspect, micelles have been visualized as branched cylinders whose quasi-spherical branching points would be prone to assemble into short rods. In addition, when water contains more than 40% of D2O, a Bragg reflection emerges at 0.12 A(-1) on SANS spectra, evidencing an organization of micelles. In addition, FT-IR spectra show that DPPC phosphate groups are D bonded only when water is D2O. Consequently, we assumed that forces prone to organize the D2O-containing micelles are D-bonded water bridges between neighboring micelles at the level of their branching points. In fact, ab initio calculations have shown that water dimers are more stable when the bridging atom is D rather than H. These water bridges could be formed due to the fact that branching points, able to slide along micelles, keep close for a longer time when water is D2O than when it is H2O. Indeed, it has been shown experimentally that the lateral diffusion of phospholipid molecules in any layer is slower in the first case. Formation of such bridges triggers a deuteron migration between micelles evidenced by the 1/T1 relaxation rate of deuterons of water in D2O-containing micelles measured at 43 degrees C by 1H NMR.

New insights into water-phospholipid model membrane interactions.

Modulating the relative humidity (RH) of the ambient gas phase of a phospholipid/water sample for modifying the activity of phospholipid-sorbed water [humidity-controlled osmotic stress methods, J. Chem. Phys. 92 (1990) 4519 and J. Phys. Chem. 96 (1992) 446] has opened a new field of research of paramount importance. New types of phase transitions, occurring at specific values of this activity, have been then disclosed. Hence, it is become recognized that this activity, like the temperature T, is an intensive parameter of the thermodynamical state of these samples. This state can be therefore changed (phase transition) either, by modulating T at a given water activity (a given hydration level), or, by modulating the water activity, at a given T. The underlying mechanisms of these two types of transition differ, especially when they appear as disorderings of fatty chains. In lyotropic transitions, this disordering follows from two thermodynamical laws. First, acting on the activity (the chemical potential) of water external to a phospholipid/water sample, a transbilayer gradient of water chemical potential is created, leading to a transbilayer flux of water (Fick's law). Second, water molecules present within the hydrocarbon region of this phospholipid bilayer interact with phospholipid molecules through their chemical potential (Gibbs-Duhem relation): the conformational state of fatty chains (the thermodynamical state of the phospholipid molecules) changes. This process is slow, as revealed by osmotic stress time-resolved experiments. In thermal chain-melting transitions, the first rapid step is the disordering of fatty chains of a fraction of phospholipid molecules. It occurs a few degrees before the main transition temperature, T(m), during the pretransition and the sub-main transition. The second step, less rapid, is the redistribution of water molecules between the different parts of the sample, as revealed by T-jump time-resolved experiments. Finally, in lyotropic and thermal transitions, hydration and conformation are linked but the order of anteriority of their change, in each case, is probably not the same. In this review, first, the interactions of phospholipid submolecular fragments and water molecules, in the interfacial and hydrocarbon regions of phospholipid/water multibilayer stacks, will be described. Second, the coupling of the conformational states of phospholipid and water molecules, during thermal and lyotropic transitions, will be demonstrated through examples.