An example of barium's involvement in a biological system is the binding of barium ions to phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase (1). Barium (and calcium) are used as mediators by bonding to the active sites of the enzymes in the reaction as phospholipase connects phospholips together to form a membrane.
In another experiment (2), barium salts were used to determine the packing density of phospholipids in the cellular membrane of certain species of bacteria.
Because of its interactions with phospholipids, a third function of barium in biological systems is the modelling of phospholipid head groups (3). Barium diethyl phosphate is a model compound used to analyze the head groups of phospholipids.
From the found materials, it is clear that barium is often used in the arrangement and connection of phospholipids in cellular membranes.
Works Cited:
(2) Scott Snyder, Dennis Kim, and Thomas J. McIntosh. Lipopolysaccharide Bilayer Structure: Effect of Chemotype, Core Mutations, Divalent Cations, and Temperature. Biochemistry. 1999. Vol. 38, pp. 10758–10767.
(3) J. Herzfeld, R. G. Griffin, R. A. Haberkorn. 31P chemical-shift tensors in barium diethyl phosphate and urea-phosphoric acid: model compounds for phospholipid head-group studies. Biochemistry. 1978. Vol. 17, pp. 2711–2718.
First of all, I like your background. The post is very interesting. I did not know barium was so useful in making the phospholipid bilayer of the plasma membrane. I am not exactly sure what packing density means and how Barium is used to find this. It would be nice to expand on that. Also, in the third use discussed, are the phosphate head groups modeled via the phosphate carried by barium diethyl phosphate? Overall, it was a very informing post.
ReplyDeleteThis was a good summary of bariums use in biological systems. It was somewhat unclear at parts. For instance, I was very lost on how barium affects the modeling of phospholipid head groups. Also, would it have been appropriate to include barium's use in medical diagnostics? Or were you strictly focusing on its role in bio systems? Other than a little confusion, I found this to be an informative blog.
ReplyDelete-The High School Chemist
Interesting post on how barium plays a vital role in the biological system. I agree with bilen in that I did not know how important barium was in making the phospholipid bilayer of the plasma membrane. However, it would have been nice if you had explained a little more on how the barium salts were used to determine the packing density of the phospholipids. Do scientists have any information on why barium diethyl phosphate is the model compound used to analyze the head groups.
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