Preferential interactions of fluorescent probe Prodan with cholesterol

The fluorescent probe Prodan has been widely used as a probe of model and biological membranes. Its fluorescent maxima in phospholipid bilayers vary as a function of phase state, with maxima at 485 for the liquid crystal L-alpha, 435 nm for the gel L'(beta), and 507 nm for the interdigitated gel L(beta)l phase, with excitation at 359 nm. These spectral changes have been used for the detection of phase changes among these phases. In the present study, the fluorescent properties and partition coefficients of Prodan in model membranes of phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanols have been studied as a function of lipid phase state and cholesterol content. It is shown that the Prodan spectrum in the presence of cholesterol no longer reflects the known phase state of the lipid; in each phase state, the presence of cholesterol leads to a spectrum with the maximum at 435 nm, characteristic of the noninterdigitated gel phase. The partition coefficient of Prodan into these lipids also varies with the phase state, giving values of 0.35 x 10(4) in the interdigitated gel, 1.8 x 10(4) in the noninterdigitated gel, and 7.6 x 10(4) in the liquid crystal phase. In the presence of cholesterol these partition coefficients are increased to 13 x 10(4) for the liquid crystal and the gel phase, and 5.1 x 10(4) in the presence of 100 mg/ml ethanol. These results suggest that Prodan has preferential interactions with cholesterol, and is thus not a randomly distributed fluorescent reporter probe in membranes containing cholesterol. These results suggest that Prodan should be used only with great caution in complex lipid mixtures, particularly biological membranes.