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H P Limbacher

Publications and source records attributed to H P Limbacher.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Binding of local anesthetics to reconstituted acetylcholine receptors: effect of protein surface potential.

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor isolated from Torpedo californica electric organ is reconstituted into lipid bilayers of zwitterionic dioleoylphosphatidylcholine. These membranes are labeled with a spin-labeled quaternary amine local anesthetic (C6SLMeI), which has been shown previously to be a noncompetitive blocker of acetylcholine receptor-ion channel function in the micromolar concentration range. The electron spin resonance spectral component corresponding to protein-immobilized anesthetic spin-label can be resolved from the composite data spectrum by using spectral subtraction of lipid components. This protein-immobilized component is shown to represent C6SLMeI bound to a finite number of sites on the receptor. We demonstrate that C6SLMeI binds to the receptor as a function of the surface potential on the protein and suggest that the acetylcholine receptor reconstituted into zwitterionic phospholipid, which has no surface potential of its own, provides an excellent model system with which to study effects of protein surface charge. We hypothesize that the primary pathway of interaction of C6SLMeI with the acetylcholine receptor is via the aqueous medium.

Animals↗

Multiequilibrium binding of a spin-labeled local anesthetic in phosphatidylcholine bilayers.

The equilibria among spin-labeled amine local anesthetic species in dioleoylphosphatidylcholine liposomes at an anesthetic: lipid mole ratio of 1:100 are investigated. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra demonstrate that anesthetic mobility within the bilayer is charge-dependent, with the uncharged species the more mobile. Partition coefficient measurements confirm ESR evidence that changes in anesthetic mobility represent anesthetic-phospholipid interaction and not changes in bilayer fluidity. Spin-exchange attenuation experiments show that anesthetics within the bilayer are accessible to the aqueous medium. Dependence of tertiary-amine anesthetic pK on dielectric constant has been used to estimate the interfacial pK. We propose a model of equilibria among species of the tertiary amine anesthetic in the aqueous medium and those intercalated in the bilayer, including a species electrostatically bound to the lipid phosphate. Using experimentally determined equilibrium constants, the model provides the binding constant between the electrostatically bound and unbound cationic anesthetics within the bilayer. The model stimulates the pH dependence of the mobile fraction of total anesthetic population determined by subtraction techniques on experimental ESR spectra.

Anesthetics, Local↗

Local anesthetic-membrane interaction: a multiequilibrium model.

We report the detection of electrostatic interactions between local anesthetics and membrane phospholipids and proteins. A spin-labeled local anesthetic was used to study how membrane-bound tertiary amine anesthetics interact with major molecular components in the membrane. The nitroxyl reporter group of this spin label is located at the polar end of the amphiphilic local anesthetic; it is therefore a uniquely suitable probe for detecting immobilization of the anesthetic due to binding interactions at the polar regions of the bilayer. The binding properties of this spin-labeled anesthetic to human erythrocyte membranes and to vesicles made from human erythrocyte lipids were studied. Lipid vesicle-bound spin labels give rise to a composite electron spin resonance spectrum from which two subcomponent spectra were resolved. Both components are membrane-bound; the first component has a narrower linewidth, indicating a greater mobility of the nitroxyl moiety of the anesthetic probe. The second component has a broader linewidth, indicating a population of constrained spin labels. We infer from the experimental results that electrostatic binding between cationic anesthetics and anionic phosphate of phospholipids produced the constrained component. In similar studies using erythrocyte ghost membranes, both a mobile (nonelectrostatic) component and a constrained (electrostatic) component were resolved from the composite spectrum. However, the constrained component in this case is much broader than the corresponding constrained component from the vesicles. We interpret this broad component in the erythrocyte membrane as an electrostatic interaction of cationic anesthetic probes with phospholipids and with membrane proteins. We conclude that membrane-bound tertiary amine anesthetics in cationic form do interact selectively with phospholipids and proteins.

Anesthetics, Local↗