Thermodynamic description of the interactions between lipids in ternary Langmuir monolayers: the study of cholesterol distribution in membranes

The aim of this work was to get insight into cholesterol distribution between two leaflets of a phospholipids bilayer. In this order, the thermodynamic analysis of the interactions between membrane lipids in binary (cholesterol/phospholipid) and ternary (phospholipid/ phospholipid/cholesterol) mixed Langmuir monolayers has been performed. For our investigation, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, which are the main types of phospholipids determining the distribution of cholesterol in membrane leaflets, were chosen and mixed in proportions corresponding to their molar ratios in the inner and outer layers of the natural human erythrocyte membrane. Into these mixed systems, various amount of cholesterol were incorporated. It has been found that despite strong differences in the phospholipid composition of both investigated ternary mixed systems, the influence of cholesterol is very similar, which indicates that cholesterol is symmetrically distributed between the inner and outer leaflets of the human erythrocytes membrane.