A Spin Label Study of the Effects of Hydrostatic Pressure and Temperature on Cellular Lipids

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Abstract
Rabbit alveolar macrophages were labeled with fatty acid-derived spin labels and the effects of both hydrostatic pressure and temperature upon the fluidity of cell lipids were observed. The alveolar macrophage membrane is significantly more fluid than the erythrocyte membrane, with a value of 2T of 52.1 ± 0.7 gauss as compared to a literature value of 56.2 ± 0.8 gauss for erythrocyte ghosts. Arrhenius plots of the effects of temperature upon membrane lipids exhibit a constant slope as the temperature is reduced until a temperature of 2–3°C is obtained, at which point an abrupt change of slope is encountered indicating a lipid phase transition. When the temperature is held constant and hydrostatic pressure is applied in increasing increments, membrane lipids again exhibit a gradual, consistent decrease in fluidity. Moderate pressures in the range of atmospheric to 4000 psi were employed; and for the cells studied, an increase in pressure of 1000 psi appears roughly equivalent to a temperature reduction of 1°C. When hydrostatic pressure is applied in combination with reduced temperature, the temperature at which the lipid phase transition takes place is shifted from 2–3°C to approximately 10°C.

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