Sponsor
This work was supported by a contract from Marie-Veronique Inc. to Portland State University.
Published In
BBA Advances
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-2023
Subjects
Retinol -- Photodegradation, Retinol -- Research -- Clinical trails
Abstract
Retinol shows complex photophysical properties that make it potentially useful as an exogenous or endogenous probe of membrane microenvironment, but it has not been fully explored. In this study, we use bulk fluorescence lifetime measurements and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to examine the stability of retinol in phosphatidylcholine (PC) multilamellar and unilamellar vesicles with and without cholesterol. We find that both light and exposure to ambient temperature and oxygen contribute to retinol degradation, with the addition of an antioxidant such as butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) essential to provide stability, especially in the absence of cholesterol. With exposure to ultraviolet light to excite its native fluorescence, retinol degrades rapidly and can photosensitize vesicles. Degradation can be measured by a decrease in fluorescence lifetime. In POPC vesicles without cholesterol, BHT leads to initially higher lifetimes compared with no BHT, but it increases the rate of photodegradation. The presence of 10 mol % cholesterol protects against this effect, and vesicles with 20 mol % cholesterol show longer lifetimes without BHT under all conditions. Because of its environmental sensitivity, retinol is interesting as a FLIM probe, but careful controls are needed to avoid degradation, and additional work is needed to optimize liposomes for food and cosmetic applications.
Rights
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync- nd/4.0/).
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1016/j.bbadva.2023.100088
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40400
Citation Details
Sumrall, L., Smith, L., Alhatmi, E., Chmykh, Y., Mitchell, D., & Nadeau, J. (2023). Stability of retinol in liposomes as measured by fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy and FLIM. BBA Advances, 3, 100088.