Microcavity-Supported Lipid Bilayers; Evaluation of Drug-Lipid Membrane Interactions by Electrochemical Impedance and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy.

Many drugs have intracellular or membrane-associated targets, thus understanding their interaction with the cell membrane is of value in drug development. Cell-free tools used to predict membrane interactions should replicate the molecular organization of the membrane. Microcavity array-supported lipid bilayer (MSLB) platforms are versatile biophysical models of the cell membrane that combine liposome-like membrane fluidity with stability and addressability. We used an MSLB herein to interrogate drug-membrane interactions across seven drugs from different classes, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories: ibuprofen (Ibu) and diclofenac (Dic); antibiotics: rifampicin (Rif), levofloxacin (Levo), and pefloxacin (Pef); and bisphosphonates: alendronate (Ale) and clodronate (Clo). Fluorescence lifetime correlation spectroscopy (FLCS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to evaluate the impact of drug on 1,2-dioleyl- sn-glycerophosphocholine and binary bilayers over physiologically relevant drug concentrations. Although FLCS data revealed Ibu, Levo, Pef, Ale, and Clo had no impact on lipid lateral mobility, EIS, which is more sensitive to membrane structural change, indicated modest but significant decreases to membrane resistivity consistent with adsorption but weak penetration of drugs at the membrane. Ale and Clo, evaluated at pH 5.25, did not impact the impedance of the membrane except at concentrations exceeding 4 mM. Conversely, Dic and Rif dramatically altered bilayer fluidity, suggesting their translocation through the bilayer, and EIS data showed that resistivity of the membrane decreased substantially with increasing drug concentration. Capacitance changes to the bilayer in most cases were insignificant. Using a Langmuir-Freundlich model to fit the EIS data, we propose Rsat as an empirical value that reflects permeation. Overall, the data indicate that Ibu, Levo, and Pef adsorb at the interface of the lipid membrane but Dic and Rif interact strongly, permeating the membrane core modifying the water/ion permeability of the bilayer structure. These observations are discussed in the context of previously reported data on drug permeability and log P.

Macromolecular inversion-driven polymer insertion into model lipid bilayer membranes.

Macromolecules of amphiphilic invertible polymers (AIPs) are capable of self-assembly into micellar assemblies of various morphologies in solvents of different polarities. The micellar assemblies in aqueous media are capable of encapsulating poorly aqueous soluble cargo and can undergo inverse conformational change and cargo release in contact with non-polar media, including potentially, cell membranes. Thus, invertible micellar assemblies have significant potential in drug delivery and related domains. However, to date there have been few investigations into their interactions with lipid membranes. Herein, we investigate the interactions of three recently developed AIPs of varying hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity balance with a highly fluidic microcavity supported 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) lipid bilayer. We combined electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) to understand how the AIP micellar assemblies impacted bilayer permeability and fluidity respectively, across polymer concentrations above and below their critical micelle concentrations (cmcs). At concentration as above their cmcs, all of the AIPs explored increased permeability and decreased the fluidity of the lipid membrane. The extent of impact depended on the hydrophobicity of the AIP. PEG600-PTHF650, the most hydrophobic of the polymers, synthesized from PEG (molecular weight 600 g/mol) and PTHF (molecular weight 650 g/mol) exerted the greatest influence on the bilayer's physical properties and fluorescence imaging and correlation data indicate that PEG600-PTHF650 micelles loaded with BODIPY probes adsorb and invert at the lipid membrane with release of cargo into the bilayer. This study should help inform future advancement of AIPs for membrane molecular delivery.

Microcavity-Supported Lipid Membranes: Versatile Platforms for Building Asymmetric Lipid Bilayers and for Protein Recognition.

Microcavity-supported lipid bilayers (MSLBs) are contact-free membranes suspended across aqueous-filled pores that maintain the lipid bilayer in a highly fluidic state, free from frictional interactions with substrate. Such platforms offer the prospect of liposome-like fluidity with the compositional versatility and addressability of supported lipid bilayers and thus offer a significant opportunity to model membrane asymmetry, protein-membrane interactions, and aggregation at the membrane interface. Herein we evaluate their performance by studying the effect of transmembrane lipid asymmetry on lipid diffusivity, membrane viscosity, and cholera toxin-ganglioside recognition across six symmetric and asymmetric membranes including binary compositions containing both fluid and gel phases, and ternary phase-separated membrane compositions. Fluorescence lifetime correlation spectroscopy was used to determine the lateral mobility of the lipid and the protein, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy enabled the detection of the protein-membrane assembly over the nanomolar range. Transmembrane leaflet asymmetry was observed to have a profound impact on membrane electrochemical resistance, where the resistance of a ternary symmetric phase-separated bilayer was found to be at least 2.6 times higher than the asymmetric bilayer with analogous composition in the distal leaflet but where the lower leaflet comprised only 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC). Similarly, the diffusion coefficient for MSLBs was observed to be 2.5 times faster for asymmetric MSLBs where the lower leaflet is DOPC alone. Our results demonstrate that the interplay of lipid packing across both membrane leaflets and the concentration of GM1 both affect the extent of cholera toxin aggregation and the consequent diffusion of the cholera-GM1 aggregates. Given that true biomembranes are both fluidic and asymmetric, MSLBs offer the opportunity to build greater biomimicry into biophysical models, and the approach described demonstrates the value of MSLBs in studying aggregation and the membrane-associated multivalent interactions prevalent in many carbohydrate-mediated processes.

Optimizing fluorescent protein expression for quantitative fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy using herpes simplex thymidine kinase promoter sequences.

The modulation of expression levels of fluorescent fusion proteins (FFPs) is central for recombinant DNA technologies in modern biology as overexpression of proteins contributes to artifacts in biological experiments. In addition, some microscopy techniques such as fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and single-molecule-based techniques are very sensitive to high expression levels of FFPs. To reduce the levels of recombinant protein expression in comparison with the commonly used, very strong CMV promoter, the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (TK) gene promoter, and mutants thereof were analyzed. Deletion mutants of the TK promoter were constructed and introduced into the Gateway® system for ectopic expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), monomeric cherry (mCherry), and FFPs containing these FPs. Two promoter constructs, TK2ST and TKTSC, were established, which have optimal low expression levels suitable for FCS studies in U2OS, HeLa CCL2, NIH 3T3, and BALB/c cells. Interestingly, when tested in these four cell lines, promoter constructs having a deletion within TK gene 5'-UTR showed significantly higher protein expression levels than the equivalent constructs lacking this deletion. This suggests that a negative regulatory element is localized within the TK gene 5'-UTR.

Dynamic studies of the interaction of a pH responsive, amphiphilic polymer with a DOPC lipid membrane.

Deeper understanding of the molecular interactions between polymeric materials and the lipid membrane is important across a range of applications from permeation for drug delivery to encapsulation for immuno-evasion. Using highly fluidic microcavity supported lipid bilayers, we studied the interactions between amphiphilic polymer PP50 and a DOPC lipid bilayer. As the PP50 polymer is pH responsive the studies were carried out at pH 6.5, 7.05 and 7.5, corresponding to fully, partly protonated (pH = pKa = 7.05) and fully ionized states of the polymer, respectively. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) using both labelled lipid and polymer revealed the PP50 associates with the bilayer interface across all pHs where its diffusion along the interface is impeded. Both FCS and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data indicate that the PP50 does not penetrate fully into the bilayer core but rather forms a layer at the bilayer aqueous interface reflected in increased resistance and decreased capacitance of the bilayer on PP50 binding. The extent of these effects and the dynamics of binding are influenced by pH, increasing with decreasing pH. These experimental trends concurred with coarse grained Monte Carlo simulations of polymer-bilayer interactions wherein a model hydrophilic polymer backbone grafted with side chains of varying hydrophobicity, to mimic the effect of varying pH, was simulated based on the bond fluctuation model with explicit solvent. Simulation results showed that with increasing hydrophobicity, the polymer penetrated deeper into the contacting bilayer leaflet of the membrane suppressing, consistent with EIS data, solvent permeation and that a full insertion of the polymer into the bilayer core is not necessary for suppression of permeability.

Basic fibroblast growth factor modifies the hypoxic response of human bone marrow stromal cells by ERK-mediated enhancement of HIF-1α activity.

Human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs, also known as bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells) are promising tools for the cellular therapy of human pathologies related to various forms of hypoxia. Although the current concepts of their clinical use include the expansion of hBMSC in standard cell culture conditions, the effect of the mitogen-driven ex vivo expansion on the adaptation to the hypoxic environment is unknown. Here, we provide data that the basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) enhances the induction of a wide range of hypoxia-related adaptive genes in hypoxic hBMSCs. We identified that the FGF2 signal is transmitted by the ERK pathway similar to that of hypoxia that also utilises the distal elements of the same signalling machinery including the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MEK1/2) in hBMSCs. We found that the simultaneous activation of ERK1/2 by FGF2 and hypoxia transforms the activation dynamics from oscillatory into sustained one. Activated ERKs co-localise with stabilised hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) followed by the reduction of its nuclear mobility as well as increased DNA binding capacity leading to the up-regulation of hypoxia-adaptive genes. Our findings indicate that the status of the ERK pathway has significant impacts on the molecular adaptation of hBMSCs to the hypoxic milieu.

Cell cycle-dependent mobility of Cdc45 determined in vivo by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.

Eukaryotic DNA replication is a dynamic process requiring the co-operation of specific replication proteins. We measured the mobility of eGFP-Cdc45 by Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) in vivo in asynchronous cells and in cells synchronized at the G1/S transition and during S phase. Our data show that eGFP-Cdc45 mobility is faster in G1/S transition compared to S phase suggesting that Cdc45 is part of larger protein complex formed in S phase. Furthermore, the size of complexes containing Cdc45 was estimated in asynchronous, G1/S and S phase-synchronized cells using gel filtration chromatography; these findings complemented the in vivo FCS data. Analysis of the mobility of eGFP-Cdc45 and the size of complexes containing Cdc45 and eGFP-Cdc45 after UVC-mediated DNA damage revealed no significant changes in diffusion rates and complex sizes using FCS and gel filtration chromatography analyses. This suggests that after UV-damage, Cdc45 is still present in a large multi-protein complex and that its mobility within living cells is consistently similar following UVC-mediated DNA damage.

Influence of hydrophobic mismatch and amino acid composition on the lateral diffusion of transmembrane peptides.

We investigated the effect of amino acid composition and hydrophobic length of alpha-helical transmembrane peptides and the role of electrostatic interactions on the lateral diffusion of the peptides in lipid membranes. Model peptides of varying length and composition, and either tryptophans or lysines as flanking residues, were synthesized. The peptides were labeled with the fluorescent label Alexa Fluor 488 and incorporated into phospholipid bilayers of different hydrophobic thickness and composition. Giant unilamellar vesicles were formed by electroformation, and the lateral diffusion of the transmembrane peptides (and lipids) was determined by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. In addition, we performed coarse-grained molecular-dynamics simulations of single peptides of different hydrophobic lengths embedded in planar membranes of different thicknesses. Both the experimental and simulation results indicate that lateral diffusion is sensitive to membrane thickness between the peptides and surrounding lipids. We did not observe a difference in the lateral diffusion of the peptides with respect to the presence of tryptophans or lysines as flanking residues. The specific lipid headgroup composition of the membrane has a much less pronounced impact on the diffusion of the peptides than does the hydrophobic thickness.

Lateral diffusion of membrane proteins: consequences of hydrophobic mismatch and lipid composition.

Biological membranes are composed of a large number lipid species differing in hydrophobic length, degree of saturation, and charge and size of the headgroup. We now present data on the effect of hydrocarbon chain length of the lipids and headgroup composition on the lateral mobility of the proteins in model membranes. The trimeric glutamate transporter (GltT) and the monomeric lactose transporter (LacY) were reconstituted in giant unilamellar vesicles composed of unsaturated phosphocholine lipids of varying acyl chain length (14-22 carbon atoms) and various ratios of DOPE/DOPG/DOPC lipids. The lateral mobility of the proteins and of a fluorescent lipid analog was determined as a function of the hydrophobic thickness of the bilayer (h) and lipid composition, using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The diffusion coefficient of LacY decreased with increasing thickness of the bilayer, in accordance with the continuum hydrodynamic model of Saffman-Delbrück. For GltT, the mobility had its maximum at diC18:1 PC, which is close to the hydrophobic thickness of the bilayer in vivo. The lateral mobility decreased linearly with the concentration of DOPE but was not affected by the fraction of anionic lipids from DOPG. The addition of DOPG and DOPE did not affect the activity of GltT. We conclude that the hydrophobic thickness of the bilayer is a major determinant of molecule diffusion in membranes, but protein-specific properties may lead to deviations from the Saffman-Delbrück model.

Lateral diffusion of membrane proteins.

We measured the lateral mobility of integral membrane proteins reconstituted in giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Receptor, channel, and transporter proteins with 1-36 transmembrane segments (lateral radii ranging from 0.5 to 4 nm) and a alpha-helical peptide (radius of 0.5 nm) were fluorescently labeled and incorporated into GUVs. At low protein-to-lipid ratios (i.e., 10-100 proteins per microm(2) of membrane surface), the diffusion coefficient D displayed a weak dependence on the hydrodynamic radius (R) of the proteins [D scaled with ln(1/R)], consistent with the Saffman-Delbruck model. At higher protein-to lipid ratios (up to 3000 microm(-2)), the lateral diffusion coefficient of the molecules decreased linearly with increasing the protein concentration in the membrane. The implications of our findings for protein mobility in biological membranes (protein crowding of approximately 25,000 microm(-2)) and use of diffusion measurements for protein geometry (size, oligomerization) determinations are discussed.