INVESTIGATION OF THE STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHANGES OF FLAVONOIDS IN MODEL MEMBRANES AT MOLECULAR LEVEL BY BIOPHYSICAL METHODS
Project no. 520 · Status: Kapanmış · 2018
Summary
Flavonoids form the most abundant phenolic compounds in plants that have positive effects on human health. Their physiological potential is very important for their role in cellular and extracellular antioxidant defense against oxygen radicals, and these compounds are known not only as powerful antioxidants, but also as cell metabolism regulators. Flavonoid - lipid interactions at molecular level play an important role in determining and improving the pharmacological effects of flavonoids, which are widely used for medical purposes. In this study, the physical interactions, namely the effect of membrane phase transition, membrane order, membrane dynamics and membrane morphology, of flavonoids with model membranes consisting of lipids and the changes that occurwith the addition these flavonoids to the model membranes were investigated by using Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) Spectroscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) techniques as a function of temperature and concentration. As a result of this study, the nature of the interaction mechanisms between flavonoids and lipids at the molecular level was better understood by the systematic use of spectroscopic, calorimetric and microscopic techniques and more detailed information about the properties of flavonoids such as antioxidants and anticancer was obtained. Thus, another step has been taken for promising medicines that will be designed in the future.