Domain Aggregation and Associated Pore Growth in Lipid Membranes

Abstract

Recent experiments have shown that certain molecular agents can selectively penetrate and aggregate in bacterial lipid membranes, leading to their permeability and rupture. To help reveal and understand the underlying mechanisms, here we establish a theory to show that the deformation energy of the membrane tends to limit the growth of molecular domains on a lipid membrane, resulting in a characteristic domain size, and that the domain aggregation significantly reduces the energy barrier to pore growth. Coarsegrained molecular dynamics simulations are performed to validate such domain aggregation and associated pore formation. This study sheds light on how lipid membranes can be damaged through molecular domain aggregation and contributes to establish a theoretical foundation for the next-generation membrane-targeting nanomedicine.

Membrane-Specific Binding of 4 nm Lipid Nanoparticles Mediated by an Entropy-Driven Interaction Mechanism

“…Depending on the type of tissue, cell membranes, the first biological interface for cellular interaction with LNPs, vary in compositions and properties. This is probably the reason that LNPs exhibit diverse binding abilities toward different tissues. ,− Indeed, the high efficacy of membrane-targeted agents (including proteins, peptides, and synthetic nanomedicines) against bacteria and tumor cells is attributed to their ability to distinguish between various types of cell membranes, based on intrinsic differences. − However, the mechanism underlying the membrane targeting of LNPs is still largely elusive.…”

Real-time monitoring the staged interactions between cationic surfactants and a phospholipid bilayer membrane

“…18 Very recently, biophysical strategies were also used to reveal the membrane penetration mechanism due to membrane-targeting agents. 19,20 Besides, the membrane interaction process might be influenced by the molar ratio of surfactants and lipids. 21 At certain surfactant concentrations, the membrane-bound surfactants might embed or insert themselves into the lipid membrane due to the hydrophobic actions of tail chains, and consequently result in the formation of surfactant-lipid micelles leading to the dissolution of the membrane.…”