Lateral mobility and organization of phospholipids and proteins in rat myocyte membranes

The effects of aging and of liposome treatment on the lateral mobility of phospholipids and proteins in the plasma membrane of cultured rat heart myocytes were studied by fluorescence photobleaching recovery. Both the mobile fraction (R) and the lateral diffusion coefficient (D) of the fluorescent phospholipid N-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazolyl phosphatidylethanolamine were found to depend on the culture's age. Aged myocyte cultures (15 days old) demonstrated higher R and lower D as compared with young ones (5 days old). Treatment of aged cultures with phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposomes, which increases the PC/sphingomyelin (SM) ratio and decreases the cholesterol level, reversed the D value to the level observed in young cultures and decreased R below the value encountered in young cells. Treatments with SM liposomes (which induce cholesterol depletion without alterting the PC/SM ratio) and with PC/cholesterol (1:0.9) liposomes (which increase the PC/SM ratio without cholesterol depletion) have indicated that the PC-liposome effect is due to changes in both the PC/SM ratio in the cholesterol level. Analogues experiments on the mobility of succinyl-concanavalin A receptors yielded similar effects on R, without altering the D value. The charges in the D and R values of the markers studied are most likely initiated by the observed alterations in the myocyte lipid composition under the conditions employed. The possible involvement of changes in the organization of membrane lipids in domains in the observed phenomena is discussed.