A combined NMR and molecular dynamics study of the transmembrane solubility and diffusion rate profile of dioxygen in lipid bilayers

The transmembrane profile of oxygen solubility and diffusivity in a lipid bilayer was assessed by C-13 NMR of the resident lipids (sn-2-perdeuterio-1-myristelaidoyl-2-myristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) in combination with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. At an oxygen partial pressure of 50 atm, distinct chemical shift perturbations of a paramagnetic origin were observed, spanning a factor of 3.2 within the sn-1 chain and an overall factor of 10 from the headgroup to the hydrophobic interior. The distinguishing feature of the C-13 NMR shift perturbation measurements, in comparison to ESR and fluorescence quenching measurements, is that the local accessibility of oxygen is achieved for nearly all carbon atoms in a single experiment with atomic resolution and without the use of a probe molecule. MD simulations of an oxygenated and hydrated lipid bilayer provided an immersion depth distribution of all carbon nuclei, in addition to the distribution of oxygen concentration and diffusivity with immersion depth. All oxygen-induced C-13 NMR chemical shift perturbations could be reasonably approximated by simply accounting for the MD-derived immersion depth distribution of oxygen in the bilayer, appropriately averaged according to the immersion depth distribution of the C-13 nuclei. Second-order effects in the paramagnetic shift are attributed to the collisionally accessible solid angle or to the propensity of the valence electrons in the vicinity of a given nuclear spin to be polarized or delocalized by oxygen. A method is presented to measure such effects. The excellent agreement between MD and NMR provides an important cross-validation of the two techniques.