07:0 PC (DHPC)
1,2-diheptanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine
The list of Phosphatidylcholine products offered by Avanti is designed to provide compounds having a variety of physical properties. Products available include short chain (C3-C8 are water soluble and hygroscopic), saturated, multi-unsaturated and mixed acid PC"s. All of the products are purified by HPLC, and special precautions are taken to protect the products for oxidization and hydrolysis. Several of these products are manufactured under the current guidelines of Good Manufacturing Practice and are available for pharmaceutical use. If you have a requirement for a choline derivative not found on our list, please call us: custom synthesis is one of our specialties.
Preserve the Activity of Solubilized Membrane Proteins
Protein PreservationDHPC preserves the native conformation and therefore the activity of the solubilized proteins. The three dimensional structure and activity of proteins are retained not only at the 10-15mM DHPC concentrations at which maximum solubilization usually occurs, but also over a large range of DHPC concentrations (up to 40mM). Not only is the three dimensional structure and hence the activity of most protein retained in excess DHPC, but the proteins also appear to be stable in DHPC. Such a result suggests that the direct interaction of DHPC with integral membrane proteins is weak. If the interaction of DHPC with membrane proteins is indeed weak, it follows that intrinsic membrane lipids will remain associated with the membrane proteins.
Solubilization MechanismDHPC is thought to exert a wedge-like effect on the neighboring lipids, mainly due to its bulky polar group and short hydrocarbon chains. This produces membrane destabilization at relatively low DHPC concentrations. All membranes investigated are solubilized at an identical DHPC / lipid ratio. This finding is taken as evidence that DHPC primarily interacts with the lipid bilayer and not with the membrane proteins. The principle underlying the preservation of the native protein structure is the inability of DHPC to displace intrinsic membrane lipids from integral membrane proteins.
Advantages of DHPC
- DHPC preserves the activity of solubilized membrane proteins.
- DHPC is not readily oxidized, and is stable over a wide pH range (4-10).
- DHPC forms micelles rather than bilayers when dispersed in water. (CMC = 1.4mM)
- DHPC shows a broad size distribution depending on the NaCl concentration of suspension.
- DHPC does not interfere with spectrophotometric measurements.
- DHPC is an ultra pure compound.