Interaction of α-tocopherol with model human high-density lipoproteins

The effects of α-tocopherol on the properties of model high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), composed of human apolipoprotein A-I and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine, were investigated by physicochemical methods. The intrinsic fluorescence of α-tocopherol and its effects on the polarization of fluoroscence of 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene, which probes the hydrocarbon region of the lipids, and 4-heptadecyl-7-hydroxycoumarin, which is a probe of lipid surfaces, suggest that α-tocopherol is located at the lipid-water interface. Relative to cholesterol, α-tocopherol in lipid surfaces is virtually inert physicochemically. Incorporation of α-tocopherol into HDLs induces only a modest increase in particle size, no change in the transition temperature, and little change in lipid polarity and lipid-lipid interactions. Moreover, α-tocopherol has only a negligible effect on the kinetic parameters of the lipophilic enzyme lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase, which binds to phosphatidylcholine surfaces and forms cholesteryl ester. However, α-tocopherol has a dramatic inhibitory effect on the rate of association of apolipoprotein A-I with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine, a process that occurs through the insertion of the protein into preformed defects in the lipid surface. It is proposed that α-tocopherol inhibits the rate of association of apolipoprotein A-I with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine by inserting into defects within the lipid surface, thereby reducing the size and/or number of sites for insertion of apolipoprotein A-I.