Author/Editor		Šentjurc, Marjeta; Sok, Miha; Serša, Gregor
Title		Plasma membrane fluidity alterations in cancerous tissues
Translated title		Spremembe v pretočnosti plazemske membrane rakavih tkiv
Type		članek
Source		Radiol Oncol
Vol. and No.		Letnik 32, št. 1
Publication year		1998
Volume		str. 109-17
Language		eng
Abstract		Plasma membrane is a heterogeneous structure with several coexisting domains having different fluidity characteristics. It plays an important role in the control of cell growth, differentiation and transformation. Fluidity of the whole plasma membrane reflects the ordering and dynamics of phospholipid acyl chains in specific membrane domains, as well as the fraction of each domain in the membrane. Changes in the membrane fluidity affect processes on the membrane such as transport, enzyme activities and expression of the redeptors. In this paper we present results of our recent electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies of plasma membrane fluidity characteristics, which take into account heterogeneous nature of the plasma membrane, By the computer simulation of the EPR spectra line-shapes, the number of coexisting domains in the plasma membrane, their relative portion in the membrane as well as the ordering and dynamics of each domain be determined. Therefore, we could distinguish the contribution of the relative portion of each domain from the contribution of fluidity alterations in the domain to the entire fluidity changes in the membrane. Two examples will be discussed: membrane fluidity characteristics of excised lung tumor tissues and influence of microtubule depolymerizing agent vinblastine on membrane fluidity of vinblastine sensitive and resistant HeLa cells.
Descriptors		MEMBRANE FLUIDITY ELECTRON SPIN RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY CELL TRANSFORMATION, NEOPLASTIC NEOPLASMS