Lipid-conjugated rigidochromic probe discloses membrane alteration in model cells of Krabbe disease

The plasma membrane of cells has a complex architecture based on the bi-dimensional liquid-crystalline bilayer arrangement of phospho- and sphingolipids, which in turn embeds several proteins and is connected to the cytoskeleton. Several studies highlight the spatial membrane organization into more ordered (Lo or lipid raft) and more disordered (Ld) domains. We here report on a fluorescent analog of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) chromophore that, when conjugated to a phospholipid, enables the quantification of the Lo and Ld domains in living cells on account of its large fluorescence lifetime variation in the two phases.

http://bit.ly/2EKLGHN