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. 2019 Feb 13;4(1):17.
doi: 10.3390/biomimetics4010017.

Effects of Capsaicin on Biomimetic Membranes

Neha Sharma  1 , Huong T T Phan  2 , Tsuyoshi Yoda  3 , Naofumi Shimokawa  4 , Mun'delanji C Vestergaard  5 , Masahiro Takagi  6
Affiliations

Effects of Capsaicin on Biomimetic Membranes

Neha Sharma et al. Biomimetics (Basel). .

Abstract

Capsaicin is a natural compound that produces a warm sensation and is known for its remarkable medicinal properties. Understanding the interaction between capsaicin with lipid membranes is essential to clarify the molecular mechanisms behind its pharmacological and biological effects. In this study, we investigated the effect of capsaicin on thermoresponsiveness, fluidity, and phase separation of liposomal membranes. Liposomal membranes are a bioinspired technology that can be exploited to understand biological mechanisms. We have shown that by increasing thermo-induced membrane excess area, capsaicin promoted membrane fluctuation. The effect of capsaicin on membrane fluidity was dependent on lipid composition. Capsaicin increased fluidity of (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) membranes, while it rigidified DOPC and cholesterol-based liposomes. In addition, capsaicin tended to decrease phase separation of heterogeneous liposomes, inducing homogeneity. We imagine this lipid re-organization to be associated with the physiological warming sensation upon consumption of capsaicin. Since capsaicin has been reported to have biological properties such as antimicrobial and as antiplatelet, the results will help unravel these biological properties.

Keywords: capsaicin; liposomes; membrane excess area; membrane fluctuation; membrane fluidity; phase separation; thermoresponsiveness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Thermosensitivity of capsaicin-containing vesicles. (a) Typical microscopic images of liposomes before and after fluctuation. DOPC/Chol liposomes (top) and DOPC/Chol/Cap (10% (v/v)) liposomes (bottom) at 21.5 °C and 25.0 °C as initial and final temperature, respectively. (b) Fluctuation profile of liposomes. Temperature was increased from 21.5 to 40 °C using a thermo-controller (tolerance ± 0.5 °C). The number of liposomes and the temperature at which the liposomes started to fluctuate was noted, expressed as a percentage of fluctuating liposomes over total number of liposomes, at the given temperature change (n = 30).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Typical thermoresponsive profile of lipid monolayers. Pressure–area curves of (a) DOPC/Chol, (b) Cap 5%, (c) Cap 10%, and (d) Cap 20% at 20 °C (black dashed line), 24 °C (black solid line) and 28 °C (gray solid line) (n = 10). (e) Graphical representation of the change in molecular area at 30 mN/m with respect to temperature.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Generalized polarization values as membrane fluidity measured using a laurdan probe. (a) DOPC/Chol/Cap and (b) DOPC/Cap vesicles at different concentrations of capsaicin. a.u.: Arbitrary units.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Phase separation in DOPC/DPPC/Chol/Cap systems. Lo: Liquid-ordered; No: No phase separation; So: Solid-ordered.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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