Two-Dimensional Immiscible Domain of Cholesterol in the Lipid Bilayer Membrane Promotes Early Stage Calcification by Inducing Oriented Nucleation of Hydroxyapatite

Abstract

Biomineralization is characterized by the fact that the crystallization of inorganic minerals is guided by an in vivo biological interface. However, the interfaces that direct calcification are widely debated up to date. In this paper, it was found that the two-dimensional (2D) immiscible domain of cholesterol in the lipid bilayer can induce the deposition of calcium phosphate by rapidly promoting the nucleation of the hydroxyapatite (001) plane. This promotion effect is related to the high lattice matching degree between the 2D cholesterol immiscible domain and the (001) plane of hydroxyapatite (HAP), which leads to the heteroepitaxy of HAP. The lipid bilayer derived from cells or vesicles is the largest biological interface in the body, thus revealing whether the lipid bilayer can induce the deposition of calcium phosphate will facilitate the understanding of the important role of cells or vesicles in calcification.

Cholesterol Microdomain Enhances the Biofilm Eradication of Antibiotic Liposomes

“…The results showed that the addition of POPC reduced the solubility of cholesterol in lipids, generated cholesterol microdomains at a lower concentration, and made the liposomes more stable by increasing the flexibility of the bilayer. [ 52,53 ]…”

“…Blank liposomes were prepared as previously described. [ 52,59 ] Briefly, 40 mg lipids with a certain composition of phospholipid and cholesterol (Table 1) was dissolved in chloroform in a pear‐shaped flask. The organic solvent was removed in a rotating vacuum evaporator at 60 °C, and a lipid film was formed.…”