Maintenance of structural and dynamic properties of cell membranes is required for fundamental physiological functions of organisms.
High hydrostatic pressure and low temperature have a profound impact on lipid membranes, primarily resulting in tighter packing and restriction of acyl-chain motion. A number of excellent reviews of highpressure effects on artificial lipid membranes has been published previously [1–5], and these should be consulted for a detailed biophysical basis of membranes, which will not be covered in this mini-review.
Primarily, increasing hydrostatic pressure orders lipid membranes in a manner analogous to decreasing temperature. With increasing pressure,the gel-to-liquid crystalline coexistence region is shifted toward higher temperatures by approximately 22 °C/100 MPa [2].
For example,a pressure increase of 100 MPa increases themain transition (Lβ/Lα) temperature
of the stearoyl-oleyl-phosphatidylcholine (SOPC) and dioleylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) membrane by 18.1 °C and 23.3 °C, respectively [6].