New BODIPY lipid probes for fluorescence studies of membranes
Many fluorescent lipid probes tend to loop back to the membrane interface when attached to a lipid acyl chain rather than embedding deeply into the bilayer. To achieve maximum embedding of BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a- diaza-s-indacene) fluorophore into the bilayer apolar region, a series of sn-2 acyl-labeled phosphatidylcholines was synthesized bearing 4,4-difluoro-1,3,5,7- tetramethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene-8-yl (Me4-BODIPY-8) at the end of C3-, C5-, C7-, or C9-acyl. A strategy was used of symmetrically dispersing the methyl groups at BODIPY ring positions 1, 3, 5, and 7 to decrease fluorophore polarity. Iodide quenching of the phosphatidylcholine probes in bilayer vesicles confirmed that the Me4-BODIPY-8 fluorophore was embedded in the bilayer. Parallax analysis of Me4-BODIPY-8 fluorescence quenching by phosphatidyl-cholines containing iodide at different positions along the sn-2 acyl chain indicated that the penetration depth of Me4-BODIPY-8 into the bilayer was determined by the length of the linking acyl chain. Evaluation using monolayers showed minimal perturbation of