¹⁹F nuclear magnetic resonance studies of cyclosporine and model unilamellar vesicles: Where does the drug sit within the membrane?

Results from our laboratory on multilayer liposomes show that CsA has a small but definite effect on the phase transition temperatures of phospholipids labeled with a CF₂ near the head, middle, or tail of the acyl chain. These observations suggest that a perturbation of the membrane function as a result of the partitioning of this hydrophobic molecule into the lipids of the membrane bilayer could be one possible mechanism of action. To evaluate this possibility, the effect of CsA on the ¹⁹F NMR spectra of SUV has been studied.