Cellular automata studies of cholesterol effect on gramicidin ion conductivity

摘要

Studies of the loss of conductivity of gramicidin channels in the presence of cholesterol molecules were performed by the cellular automata method. Four models were analyzed where the inhibition of channel conductivity was assumed to take place in the presence of at least one cholesterol molecule or at least two molecules (one in each lipid layer). In addition the role of cholesterol aggregation in the studied phenomenon was examined. The hypothesis that at least one cholesterol molecule able to aggregate can inhibit a single gramicidin channel conductivity seems to be the more probable when the computer results are compared with the experimental data.