CHANGES IN MEMBRANE FLUIDITY DURING THE MICELLE FORMATION DETERMINE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE SOLUBILIZATION OF MUSCARINIC RECEPTORS

Abstract

The influence of various concentrations of 15 detergents at different temperatures on the fluidity of membranes was analysed by fluorescence anisotropy of inserted 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5- hexatriene in rat cortical and Sf9 cell membranes. Comparison of the obtained data with the abilities of the detergents to solubilize muscarinic receptor subtypes indicated that not only the fluidity of the micelles formed but also the micelle formation process, the lipid/protein ratio, and presence of sterols have significant influence on the efficiency of the solubilization of mAChR. Digitonin seems to exploit efficiently all these factors by its biphasic modulatory effect on membrane fluidity during the receptor solubilization.