Lipid bilayer properties are quantified with a variety of arbitrary selected parameters such as molecular packing and dynamics, electrostatic potentials or permeability. In the paper we determined the effect of phloretin and 6-ketocholestanol (dipole potential modifying agents) on the membrane hydration and efficiency of the trans-membrane water flow. The dynamics of water molecules within the lipid bilayer interface was evaluated using solvent relaxation method, whereas the osmotically induced trans-membrane water flux was estimated with the stopped-flow method using the liposome shrinkage kinetics. The presence of phloretin or 6-ketocholestanol resulted in a change of both, the interfacial hydration level and osmotically driven water fluxes. Specifically, the presence of 6-ketocholestanol reduced the amount and mobility of water in the membrane interface. It also slows the osmotically induced water flow. The interfacial hydration change caused by phloretin was much smaller and the effect on osmotically induced water flow was opposite to that of 6-ketocholestanol.

J Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic v v i Dolejškova 3 Prague 182 23 Czech Republic

Laboratory for Biophysics of Lipid Aggregates Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation Wroclaw University of Technology pl Grunwaldzki 13 50 377 Wroclaw Poland

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