Lipid asymmetry is a ubiquitous property of the lipid bilayers in cellular membranes and its maintenance and loss
play important roles in cell physiology, such as blood coagulation and apoptosis. The resulting exposure of phosphatidylserine
on the outer surface of the plasma membrane has been suggested to be caused by a specific membrane enzyme, scramblase,
which catalyzes phospholipid flip-flop. Despite extensive research the role of scramblase(s) in apoptosis has remained elusive.
Here, we show that phospholipid flip-flop is efficiently enhanced in liposomes by oxidatively modified phosphatidylcholines. A
combination of fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the mechanistic basis for this property
of oxidized phosphatidylcholines is due to major changes imposed by the oxidized phospholipids on the biophysical properties
of lipid bilayers, resulting in a fast cross bilayer diffusion of membrane phospholipids and loss of lipid asymmetry, requiring
no scramblase protein.