Evidence for condensed complexes of cholesterol in lipid membranes

Although cholesterol is a predominant lipid in the eukaryotic plasma membrane, its interactions with other lipids are still not well understood. Insights into the nature of lipid assembly can be gained from examining lipid-cholesterol interaction using model systems. A key observation was the discovery of liquid-liquid phase diagrams with two critical points in the binary mixtures of cholesterol and lipids. The shape of the phase diagrams can be explained by a thermodynamic model of "condensed complexes". In our quest to characterize cholesterol-lipid interactions, we determined phase diagrams of cholesterol and phospholipids that point to the existence of condensed complexes. This complex formation hypothesis was further supported by experiments involving cholesterol removal by cyclodextrin, grazing x-ray diffraction and x-ray reflectivity studies and isothermal calorimetry. Our study aimed at establishing a correlation (or the lack of) between domain formation and complex formation, as well as determining the mode of cholesterol association with different lipids based on their structural and physical properties. We established a displacement assay by which we were able to probe cholesterol-lipid interactions by perturbing them in the presence of an intercalator that competes with cholesterol for association with lipids. Our data support the condensed complex model between cholesterol and lipids, and cholesterol when complexed with lipids shows low activity whereas free, uncomplexed cholesterol exhibits high activity. We were successful in modulating cholesterol activity by varying the level of intercalator while keeping the cholesterol content fixed. In this thesis, not only have we shown that cholesterol can be displaced by intercalators in model systems, we have further established that such displacement can take place in membranes of live cell.