Title:
Membrane dynamics induced by physical differences between d- and l-isoforms of menthol

Speaker(s):
Pooja GUSAIN¹, Kunihide HOSHINO^1,2, Yoshio TSUJINO^1,2, Naofumi SHIMOKAWA¹, Masahiro TAKAGI<sup>1

1</sup> School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi city, Ishikawa, Japan
923-1292 Tel: +81-761-51-1650, Fax: +81-761-51-1650
² Takasago International, 5-37-1, Kamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo 144-8721, Japan Tel:81-3-5744-0511
Email: M.Takagi( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Abstract:
It is important to understand the physicochemical mechanism that is responsible for the morphological changes in the cell membrane in the presence of various stimuli and sensory compounds. Menthol, popularly known for its cooling effect, activates TRPM8- a cold activated thermoTRP ion channel. It has two chiral forms, d- and l-isoforms which show different behaviors. L-menthol has physiological effect on membrane i.e cooling effect whereas d-menthol has irritation effect. In this study, we demonstrate how the chirality of menthol affects the thermos-induced dynamical movement of membrane and reveals the phenomenon behind the differences induced by d- and l-isoforms of menthol on membrane dynamics. Hence we used cell-sized liposomes to study the cell dynamics. We found that d-menthol exhibits more thermal responsiveness and higher fluidity to the membrane than l-menthol.