Lipid bilayer-nanoparticle interactions

Cell membranes, consisting of lipid bilayers with embedded proteins, separate interior and exterior of cells and are selectively permeable to protect the intracellular environment. The Upid bilayer typically permits diffusion of small and non-polar molecules while preventing diffusion of polar and large molecules. Most of the nanoscale macromolecules are not able to freely diffuse across the cell membranes but can be engineered to internalize into cells through various mechanisms upon contact with the cell membrane. Critical to their use in biomedical applications, the interaction of nanoparticles with cell membranes is... 

The Surface charge of dendrimers and dendritic nanoparticles can be chemically modified to be positively, neutral, or negatively charged, which affects their interactions with negatively charged cell membranes. After modifying the amine-termini of G5 PAMAM dendrimers to acetamide, their ability of hole expansion on a DMPC lipid bilayer was impaired (Fig. 2).[44] In agreement with... 

In this chapter, we describe our recent mesoscale modeling studies of the interactions between spherical nanoparticles and model cell membranes [73-75]. Although these studies are not comprehensive, they demonstrate the techniques that could be used to further explore the mechanisms of nanoparticle-membrane interactions. Initially, we describe the use of hybrid selfconsistent field theory to study the phase behavior of small (radius Rp < 10 nm) spherical nanoparticles near a lipid bilayer. Depending on the nanoparticle size and interaction parameters... 

Melittin is an amphipathic peptide which has received much attention as a model peptide for peptide-membrane interactions. It is however not suited as a transfection agent due to its cytolytic and toxicologic effects. Retro-inverso-melittin, when covalently linked to the lipid l,2-dioleoyl-s -gZycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (riDOM), eliminates these shortcomings. RiDOM forms cationic nanoparticles with a diameter of 13 nm which are well soluble in water and bind with high affinity to DNA and lipid membranes. RiDOM-induced membrane leakiness is however much reduced compared to that of authentic melittin. The P NMR spectrum of the nanoparticle is however transformed into a typical bilayer spectrum. ... 

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