| An atomic-level molecular dynamics simulation was carried out to study the effects of a plant sterol
(sitosterol) and glucosylceramide (GlcCer) on a 1,2-dilinoleoylposphocholine (DLiPC) membrane.
Initially, a membrane containing 50 mol% sitosterol was compared with that containing the same ratio of
cholesterol. These simulations showed differential condensing and ordering effects of sitosterol and
cholesterol, with cholesterol being slightly more efficient than sitosterol in packing the membrane more
tightly to a liquid ordered phase. By incorporation of 9.3% GlcCer on DLiPC/sterol membrane no notable
change was observed in terms of area per lipid, bilayer thickness, order parameter and lateral diffusion.
Some clusters of GlcCer/sterol were observed at higher ratio of GlcCer (15.5%), supporting the existence of
GlcCer/sitosterol-enriched Lo-domains on the nanometer scale in the plant lipid mixture |