Fourier Transform Spectrometry as a tool to study the hydration in cells and lipid particles

LAIRIONFABIANA; DISALVO. E ANIBAL; ALE, NORMA; FRIAS, M DE LOS ANGELES; DIAZ, SONIA; BRANDAN, SILVIA; BEN ALTABEF, AIDA

La Plata

Workshop; Workshop on Vibrational Spectroscopy Applied to Microbiology and Biomedical Research; 2004

CINDEFI

FTIR spectrometry is a power tool to exploring the effect of hydration on the different polar groups of the lipid membrane. This information is useful to determine the physicochemical changes produced in cells and in lipid model systems when they are preserved by dehydration, lyophilization or desiccation. In this presentation we show infrared data of the hydration properties of lipid membranes and discuss the organization of water around the main hydration sites such as carbonyls and phosphates. The changes in hydration on those sites were studied when membranes were subjected to osmotic stress and challenged with compounds that may substitute for water generally used as preservatives in dry states such as trehalose, phloretin and arbutine. In addition, the infrared data are compared with the information obtained from surface potential in monolayers, and molecular dynamic simulation of water and trehalose in lipid interfaces.