Interactions between Curcumin and Cardiolipin Inspected with a Bio-Mimetic Model of Mitochondria Membranes

Shani Ben Zichri benzichr@post.bgu.ac.il ¹ Sofiya Kolusheva ² Michael Danilenko ³ Juan Lucas Poggio ⁴ David Stein ⁴ Raz Jelinek ^1,2 Zulfia Orynbayeva ⁴

¹Chemistry Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
²Ilze Katz Center for Nanotechnology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
³Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
⁴Surgery, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

A definitive interaction between the mitochondria signature phospholipid- Cardiolipin (CL) and the anti-cancer compound- Curcumin (CUR), was subjected as part of a model membrane system of the mitochondria membranes. A small unilamellar and giant lipid vesicles mimicking mitochondria membrane bilayer were employed to address biophysical aspects of interaction between CUR and CL. We showed that CUR exhibit enhancement of fluorescence corresponding to increasing amounts of CL, indicating a preferential interaction between them. The different biophysical methods that were applied on this system, explains the singular affinity of CUR to CL. Furthermore, to some extend the ability of CUR to alter broad spectrum of metabolic processes. The investigation of this artificial membrane system along with the inquiry of CUR influences may yield information about the role of mitochondria membranes in cancer and can suggest CUR as an anticancer future therapy