Lipid peroxidation modifies the assembly of biological membranes "The Lipid Whisker Model"

Abstract

The aim of this opinion article is to point out the basic principles that modify the assembly of biological membranes during lipid peroxidation. With this objective in mind, I describe: the structural and functional properties of membranes, the transport and diffusion of oxygen regulated by cholesterol and fatty acids; the "Lipid Whisker Model" and finally analyzed the changes induced by lipid peroxidation in membrane structure and dynamics, both at the lipid and protein level. Several reviews have appeared in recent years related to the kinetics and biology of lipid peroxidation products (Catala, 2010; Yin et al., 2011; Pinchuk and Lichtenberg, 2014; Vigor et al., 2014; Davies and Guo, 2014). The analysis of lipid peroxidation products has been particularly important in the advancement of research in this field because of the complexity of product mixtures. I also discuss the effect of other membrane modifications, triggered by lipid peroxidation products and reducing sugars. Contrary to what is expected by the LWM, Garrec et al. (2014) have recently investigated the validity of the "floating peroxyl radical" hypothesis by means of molecular modeling and predicted that the peroxyl radical does not "float" at the surface of the membrane.