| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||


* Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Center for Computational Sciences, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15282;
Department of Chemistry, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama 36688; and
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Miami, and Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami, Florida 33135
Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Andrzej Wierzbicki, E-mail: awierzbi{at}jaguar1.usouthal.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Pathologic crystals (e.g., CPPD) that induce membranolysis can be differentiated from nonpathologic crystals by their surface charge and topography. Pathologic crystals, also known as membranolytic crystals such as monosodium urate, CPPD, and the
-quartz form of silicon dioxide, are irregular and possess a high density of negatively charged groups as compared to nonmembranolytic smooth surface crystals, e.g., diamond dust and the anatase form of silicon dioxide. The less negatively surface-charged brushite and hydroxyapatite crystals are not often associated with acute inflammation (5
).
Until recently, only indirect evidence of the crystal-membrane interactions have been presented. For example, it has been demonstrated that the adhesion of calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals involves anionic sites on the surface of renal epithelial cells (6
,7
). In another related study (8
) involving different classes of anionic crystals, namely hydroxyapatite, it has been also speculated that the interaction between renal epithelial cells and hydroxyapatite crystal surfaces involves negatively charged molecules protruding from the apical surface of the plasma membrane. However, very recently, employing computational techniques, we have presented direct evidence that the crystal-membrane interaction leads to a rupture of the lipid bilayer (1
). We have proposed that the interactions between the surface of the CPPD crystal and the extracellular layer of the hydrated dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) phospholipid bilayer may lead to decoupling of the external layer from the intracellular side of the membrane. In turn, a local thinning of the layer on the intracellular side of the membrane occurs, which favors water penetration, leading to membranolysis.
Understanding these interactions at the molecular level is extremely helpful, not only to elucidate the molecular nature of cell-crystal interaction, but also to aid in design of therapeutic agents that could diminish such an interaction. There is already some experimental evidence that phosphocitrate, a polyanion, protects from crystal-induced polymorphonuclear leukocyte membranolysis (9
). The CPPD crystal surface, although neutral, contains loci of both positive and negative charges, and is able to attract complementarily charged molecular species, like the highly negatively charged (4) phosphocitrate anion. Studies of interactions between ionic crystals and phospholipid bilayers show that these interactions can be modified by polyanions like phosphocitrate, citrate, polyasparate, and polyglutamate. Our earlier molecular modeling studies show that phosphocitrate could be used as a powerful inhibitor of the (010) crystal surfaces of CPPD crystal (10
).
In this work we have undertaken computational modeling studies to determine the effect of phosphocitrate on the CPPD-induced membranolysis of the DMPC phospholipid bilayers. We show that phosphocitrate greatly inhibits the CPPD-induced membranolysis.
| METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The complex of CPPD crystal and eight phosphocitrate ions was placed at the lipid bilayer/water interface. The initial position of the crystal was determined from our previous study. However, because the height of phosphocitrate ion is 5 Å, we moved the CPPD-phosphocitrate ion complex 5 Å away from the lipid bilayer from the initial position. During the simulation, the position of CPPD-PC complex was held fixed. In this study the simulation time for the bilayer and the bilayer-CPPD-PC was 1.2 ns. Other simulation details are described in detail in our previous study (1
).
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
Fig. 2 shows the results from this study in which the CPPD-PC complex was placed at the lipid/water interface of the solvated lipid bilayer system. Shown in this figure are the snapshots (200 ps apart) from our molecular dynamics simulations. As observed from the figure, the lipid bilayer integrity is maintained. We observe that the waters do not penetrate the lipid bilayer. This clearly indicates that PC has a protective effect on the CPPD-induced lipid bilayer leakage.
|
|
|
In our simulations of the bilayer-CPPD system, we observed that the penetrating water molecules were all oriented in the same way, with oxygen atoms pointing at the crystal and hydrogen atoms pointing away from the crystal. This led us to propose an alternative mechanism of the breakdown of the lipid bilayer, which could be driven by the electrostatic interactions instead. Under this hypothesis, the electrostatic field induced by the crystal should alter the lipid headgroup dipole orientation and hence its orientation with respect to the bilayer normal. To test this hypothesis, we calculated the angle between the lipid bilayer normal and the vector defined by the P and N atoms of the lipid headgroup. This angle was calculated for individual lipid headgroups for bottom and top leaflets from coordinates saved every 1 ps. The data from the individual lipid molecules were combined together for the top and the bottom leaflet and subsequently histogrammed (Fig. 4). These results show that the distribution of the angles for the solvated bilayer and the bilayer-PC-CPPD system are symmetrically distributed and highly similar for both the leaflets. On the other hand, the distribution for the bilayer-CPPD system is different. The distribution of the angles for the top leaflet is shifted to the left, reflecting the electrostatic force on the headgroup due to the crystal. Interestingly, the angle distribution is affected to a much lesser extent for the bottom leaflet. These results and observations lead us to conclude that the waters and lipid headgroups are electrostatically affected by the crystal and that waters get pulled through the bilayer leading to breakdown of the integrity of the bilayer, which leads to the increased mobility of the lipid headgroups.
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
We have previously shown (10
) that phosphocitrate binds to the specific faces of CPPD and proposed that this induces morphological changes that may lead to diminished crystal growth or its total cessation. The orientation of PC binding to CPPD crystal obtained in our previous study is slightly different from the one obtained in the current study. However, the main features are identical: the phosphate group of PC places itself in the position at the surface that would be occupied by pyrophosphate ion, assuming crystal lattice would have continued upward. Furthermore, the electronegative carboxylate groups of PC are placed near the positive calcium ions of CPPD.
In vitro experiments have shown that PC inhibits CPPD crystal formation in isolated articular cartilage vesicles. Cheung et al. (11
) showed that PC (10100 µM) blocked both ATP-dependent and -independent mineralization in articular cartilage vesicles. PC has also been shown to be a potent in vitro inhibitor of basic calcium phosphate (BCP) (12
) (another pathologic articular mineral) and calcium oxalate monohydrate (13
,14
) crystal formation.
It has been demonstrated that PC inhibits CPPD and BCP crystal-induced mitogenesis and metalloproteinase synthesis and secretion by fibroblasts and chondrocytes (15
,16
). There are other in vitro studies investigating the preventive effect of PC on CPPD- and BCP-induced biological damage. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, it has also been shown that PC binds these crystals. However, this is the first computational study that clearly shows the protective effect of PC on CPPD-induced lipid bilayer breakdown.
The results reported in this study suggest that the CPPD-induced lipid bilayer leakage is not due to changes in mobility as we thought previously (1
). Instead, we propose that the CPPD induces an electrostatic field distribution across the lipid bilayer, which allows the water molecules to move across the bilayer toward the crystal. Hence, when PC is bound to the CPPD crystal, this electrostatic field is shielded and the waters are not pulled toward the crystal. To investigate the role that the electrostatic field plays in the CPPD-induced bilayer rupture, we have calculated the electrostatic potential maps for the system under the investigation. Fig. 5 displays the GRASP (17
) electrostatic potential maps for the hydrated phospholipid bilayer alone (Fig. 5 A), the hydrated phospholipid bilayer-CPPD system (Fig. 5 B), and the hydrated phospholipid bilayer-CPPD-PC system (Fig. 5 C), taken after 200 ps of molecular dynamics simulation. For the hydrated bilayer (Fig. 5 A) the electrostatic field is essentially slightly positive (light blue) everywhere except within the layer of the phosphate headgroups of the DMPC assembly. Introduction of the CPPD crystal slab (Fig. 5 B) results in dramatic changes in the distribution of electrostatic potential within the bilayer. As one can see from this picture, the crystal slab generates an oriented, dipole-like electrostatic field distribution in the immediate vicinity of the crystal, with the positive and negative areas of electrostatic potential clearly separated by the crystal slab. We can see that this dipole-like field extends deeply into the bilayer with the electrostatic field distribution within the bilayer being positive (blue) on the CPPD crystal side of the bilayer and negative on the opposite side of the bilayer (red). Thus, this "induced polarization" of the bilayer seems to have an opposite direction to the dipole field of the slab, and clearly one can see evidence of a gradient of the electrostatic potential across the bilayer. The presence of this directional electrostatic field may explain why, as it was mentioned earlier in our simulations of the bilayer-CPPD system, we observed that the penetrating water molecules were all oriented in the same way, with oxygen atoms pointing at the crystal and hydrogen atoms pointing away from the crystal. When the CPPD crystal slab is covered with phosphocitrate, the electrostatic field of the crystal slab is dramatically altered (Fig. 5 C). The positive side of this field (blue) stays localized very close to the surface of the crystal, and the electrostatic potential inside the bilayer resembles very closely that of the free bilayer (Fig. 5 A), staying in general on the slightly positive side of the potential (light blue) as in Fig. 5 A. There is no evidence of the electrostatic potential gradient in the direction perpendicular to the crystal surface. The results discussed above clearly demonstrate that phosphocitrate molecules distributed at the CPPD crystal surface can protect the structural integrity of the phospholipid bilayer by not allowing the electrostatic field of the crystal to penetrate into the bilayer.
|
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
We acknowledge Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (grants MCA02N008P and MCB020003P) for its generous allowance of the supercomputer time. We also acknowledge the National Institutes of Health grant (AR38421-14) and Veterans Administration Merit Review for supporting this research.
Submitted on December 21, 2004; accepted for publication July 1, 2005.
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
2. Ryan, L. M., and D. J. McCarty. 1997. Calcium pryophosphate dihydrate crystal deposition disease; pseudogout; articular chondrocalcinosis. In Arthritis and Allied Conditions, 13th Ed. W. J. Koopman, editor. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, MD. 21032125.
3. Ryan, L. M., and H. S. Cheung. 1999. The role of crystals in osteoarthritis. Rheum. Dis. Clin. North Am. 25:257267.[CrossRef][Medline]
4. Mandel, N. S. 1976. The structural basis of crystal induced membranolysis. Arthritis Rheum. 19:439445.[CrossRef][Medline]
5. Terkeltaub, R. A. 1997. Pathogenesis and treatment of crystal-induced inflammation. In Arthritis and Allied Conditions, 13th Ed. W. J. Koopman, editor. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, MD. 20852102.
6. Lieske, J. L., F. G. Toback, and S. Deganello. 1996. Face specific adhesion of calcium oxalate dihydrate crystals in renal epithelial cells. Calcif. Tissue Int. 58:195200.[CrossRef][Medline]
7. Lieske, J. C., R. Norris, and F. G. Toback. 1997. Adhesion of hydroxiapatite crystals to anionic sites on the surface of renal epithelial cells. Am. J. Physiol. 273:F224F232.[Medline]
8. Lieske, J. C., R. Leonard, H. Swift, and F. G. Toback. 1996. Adhesion of calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals to anionic sites on the surface of renal epithelial cells. Am. J. Physiol. 270:F192F199.[Medline]
9. Sallis, J. D., R. Shankar, B. Rees, and R. Thomson. 1989. Protection of crystal-induced polymorphonuclear leukocyte membranolysis by phosphocitrate. Biochem. Med. Metab. Biol. 41:5663.[CrossRef][Medline]
10. Wierzbicki, A., and H. S. Cheung. 1998. Molecular modeling of inhibition of crystals of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate by phosphocitrate. J. Mol. Struct. (THEOCHEM). 454:287297.
11. Cheung, H. S., I. V. Kurup, J. D. Sallis, and L. M. Ryan. 1996. Inhibition of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystal formation in articular cartilage vesicles and cartilage by phosphocitrate. J. Biol. Chem. 271:2808228085.
12. Shankar, R., S. Crowden, and J. D. Sallis. 1984. Phosphocitrate and its analogue N-sulpho-2-amino tricarballylate inhibit aortic calcification. Atherosclerosis. 52:191198.[CrossRef][Medline]
13. Wierzbicki, A., C. S. Sikes, J. D. Sallis, J. D. Madura, E. D. Stevens, and K. L. Martin. 1995. Scanning electron microscopy and molecular modeling of inhibition of calcium oxalate monohydrate crystal growth by citrate and phosphocitrate. Calcif. Tissue Int. 56:297304.[CrossRef][Medline]
14. Sallis, J. D., N. F. G. Parry, J. D. Meehan, H. Kamperman, and M. E. Anderson. 1995. Controlling influence of phosphocitrate in vitro and in vivo on calcium oxalate crystal formation and growth. Scanning Microsc. 9:127136.[Medline]
15. Cheung, H. S., J. D. Sallis, P. G. Mitchell, and J. A. Struve. 1990. Inhibition of basic calcium phosphate crystal-induced mitogenesis by phosphocitrate. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 171:2025.[CrossRef][Medline]
16. Cheung, H. S., J. D. Sallis, and J. A. Struve. 1996. Specific inhibition of basic calcium phosphate and calcium pyrophosphate crystal-induction of metalloproteinase synthesis by phosphocitrate. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1315:105111.[Medline]
17. Nicholls, A., K. A. Sharp, and B. Honig. 1991. Protein folding and association: insights from the interfacial and thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons. Proteins. 11:281296.[CrossRef][Medline]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |