Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Publication Title
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes
Keywords
Lipid bilayer, Lipid rafts, Small-angle neutron scattering, Vitamin E, α -Tocopherol, γ -Tocopherol
Abstract
© 2020 Elsevier B.V. The antioxidant vitamin E is a commonly used vitamin supplement. Although the multi-billion dollar vitamin and nutritional supplement industry encourages the use of vitamin E, there is very little evidence supporting its actual health benefits. Moreover, vitamin E is now marketed as a lipid raft destabilizing anti-cancer agent, in addition to its antioxidant behaviour. Here, we studied the influence of vitamin E and some of its vitamers on membrane raft stability using phase separating unilamellar lipid vesicles in conjunction with small-angle scattering techniques and fluorescence microscopy. We find that lipid phase behaviour remains unperturbed well beyond physiological concentrations of vitamin E (up to a mole fraction of 0.10). Our results are consistent with a proposed line active role of vitamin E at the domain boundary. We discuss the implications of these findings as they pertain to lipid raft modification in native membranes, and propose a new hypothesis for the antioxidant mechanism of vitamin E.
DOI
10.1016/j.bbamem.2020.183189
Recommended Citation
DiPasquale, Mitchell; Nguyen, Michael H.L.; Rickeard, Brett W.; Cesca, Nicole; Tannous, Christopher; Castillo, Stuart R.; Katsaras, John; Kelley, Elizabeth G.; Heberle, Frederick A.; and Marquardt, Drew. (2020). The antioxidant vitamin E as a membrane raft modulator: Tocopherols do not abolish lipid domains. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/chemistrybiochemistrypub/152