Translocation of Ca2+ across lipid bilayer membrane due to defects induced by teleocidin

The effect of defects in a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) membrane on Ca²⁺ permeability across the membrane was studied. Addition of teleocidin to a suspension of DPPC vesicles encapsulating Quin 2 increased the fluorescence intensity of Quin 2. Change of fluorescence intensity was significant below the phase-transition temperature of the membrane, and increased according to the kind of divalent metal ions in the medium in the order of Mg²⁺2+2+. It was confirmed that DPPC vesicles did not change the vesicular structure upon binding teleocidin to the membrane. Therefore, the fluorescence increase below the phase-transition temperature was ascribed to the influx of divalent cations into DPPC vesicles through cracks formed in the membrane upon distribution of teleocidin. By contrast, 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) did not change the fluorescence intensity of Quin 2 significantly. It should be noted that teleocidin, which located at the membrane surface, yielded more significant defects across the lipid membrane than TPA, which was incorporated into the hydrophobic core of the membrane.