Mattia Morandi, Mathieu Sommer, Monika Kluzek, Fabrice Thalmann, André P.Schroder, Carlos M.Marques, Biophysical Journal Volume 114, Issue 9, 8 May 2018, Pages 2165-2173
The properties of lipid bilayers in sucrose solutions have been intensely scrutinized over recent decades because of the importance of sugars in the field of biopreservation. However, a consensus has not yet been formed on the mechanisms of sugar-lipid interaction.
Here, we present a study on the effect of sucrose on 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine bilayers that combines calorimetry, spectral fluorimetry, and optical microscopy. Intriguingly, our results show a significant decrease in the transition enthalpy but only a minor shift in the transition temperature. Our observations can be quantitatively accounted for by a thermodynamic model that assumes partial delayed melting induced by sucrose adsorption at the membrane interface.
