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Published March 25, 1996 | public
Journal Article

Modulation of Mobilities of Fluorescent Membrane Probes by Adsorption of a Hydrophobic Polyelectrolyte

Abstract

We have used three different fluorescence methods to examine the effect of the pH-dependent adsorption of a hydrophobic polyelectrolyte, poly(2-ethylacrylic acid), on the mobility of fluorescent probes in phosphatidylcholine membranes. Measurements of lateral diffusion, made by either pyrene excimer formation or fluorescence photobleaching recovery, show reduced probe mobility on polymer adsorption; formation of intramolecular excimers by 1,1'-propylenebis(pyrene) is also reduced. Fluorescence depolarization measurements, however, show increased rotational freedom for diphenylhexatriene and other depolarization probes. Extensive polymer adsorption solubilizes membranes into micelles, but mobilities do not exhibit sharp transitions upon membrane reorganization. Polymer adsorption appears to affect probe mobilities locally; the global structure of the membrane does not play a direct role.

Additional Information

Copyright © 1996 American Chemical Society. Received June 16, 1995; Revised Manuscript Received January 2, 1996. Publication Date (Web): March 25, 1996. Abstract published in Advance ACS Abstracts, March 1, 1996. This work was supported by the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the Center for Environmentally Appropriate Materials at the University of Massachusetts and by the Developmental Resource for Biological Imaging and Optoelectronics at Cornell University. We wish to thank Dr. David Piston for assistance in photobleaching measurements.

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 19, 2023