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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

cholesterol, inner membrane, outer membrane, fluorescence spectroscopy

College

Life Sciences

Department

Physiology and Developmental Biology

Abstract

This proposal was designed to use fluorescence spectroscopy to identify in as much detail as possible physical properties of model membranes in effort to understand roles of cholesterol in biological membranes. The following questions were addressed: how does the effect of cholesterol differ between the inner and outer faces of the cell membrane; can fluorescence spectroscopy distinguish between homogenous and heterogeneous mixtures of membrane components; and what is the biophysical mechanism associated with one of the fluorescent probes used (merocyanine 540)? These questions were addressed with three specific aims. All three aims have been accomplished. One paper was published during 2008 based on aims 1 and 2 (with 5 undergraduate students as first and co-authors), and a second paper based on aim #3 is currently being prepared for submission in early 2009 (4 undergraduate students as first and co-authors). In addition, rapid completion of these aims allowed us to expand the scope of the original proposal to include two new directions in the laboratory studying the effects of cancer chemotherapeutic agents and endoplasmic reticulum stress on membrane properties. The information attained from the original aims of this proposal is important for enabling us to interpret the complex results attained with the chemotherapeutic agents and during endoplasmic reticulum stress. In addition to the two papers published or in preparation, three abstracts have been submitted for presentation at the annual international meeting of the Biophysical Society next February in Boston based directly on the results of this MEG (including 18 undergraduate students as co-authors), and three other papers are in review or in preparation based on the expanded scope of this MEG (also including 18 undergraduate students as co-authors).

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