Sugar distribution between and around membranes during dehydration
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Date
2006-12
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Elsevier
Abstract
It is now well known that small solutes such as sugars can reduce membrane damage during freezing and dehydration. One of the mechanisms for this protection is that small solutes can hinder deleterious phase transitions, thus preserving membrane integrity. The mechanisms for this can be understood in terms of the hydration forces explanation (HFE) [G. Bryant, K.L. Koster, J. Wolfe, Seed Sci. Res. 11 (2001) 17–25]. At low to intermediate hydrations, the presence of small solutes reduces membrane transition temperatures through their (non-specific) volumetric and osmotic properties. If concentrations are sufficiently high that vitrification occurs, then the transition temperatures are depressed even further. In the fully dehydrated state, direct hydrogen bonding between solutes and membranes may become important. Recently [K. Koster, G. Bryant, Eur. Biophys. J. 32 (2003) 96–105], we showed how solutes can be excluded from inter-membrane regions during dehydration if the solutes are too large, explaining why large solutes (eg polymers) cannot inhibit membrane phase transition. This raises two questions: (1) is there partial exclusion of small and intermediate sized solutes? (2) if so, how does this alter the effects of the solutes? and (3) is there a maximum useful concentration of small solutes? Question (3) is answered in an accompanying paper (see Lenné et al., this volume). In this paper we will present the results of Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) and Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) experiments designed to answer the first two questions, and discuss the implications for our understanding of the effects of solutes on membranes during dehydration. © 2010, Elsevier Ltd.
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Keywords
Saccharides, Freezing, Dehydration, Membranes, Distribution functions, Small angle scattering
Citation
Bryant, G., Lenné, T., Koster, K. L., & Garvey, C. J. (2006). Sugar distribution between and around membranes during dehydration. 43rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Cryobiology in association with the Society for Low Temperature Biology (Cryo 2006), 24th – 27th July 2006. Hamburg, Germany: Chamber of Commerce. In Cryobiology, 53(3), 404. doi:10.1016/j.cryobiol.2006.10.086