Issue 46, 2012

Homo-polymers with balanced hydrophobicity translocate through lipid bilayers and enhance local solvent permeability

Abstract

Recent experimental studies indicate that polymeric structures with a well-adjusted balance of amphiphilic parts may translocate through self-assembled phospholipid bilayers and enhance the passive trans-membrane transport of smaller molecules. Using a coarse grained lattice Monte Carlo model with explicit solvent we investigate self-assembled lipid bilayers interacting with a linear polymer chain under variation of the hydrophobicity of the chain. Here, we focus on the relationship between the chain's hydrophobicity and its translocation behavior through the membrane as well as induced membrane perturbations. We show, that there is an adsorption transition of the polymer at the bilayer interface, where effectively the solvent phase and the tail phase of the bilayer are equally repulsive for the polymer. Close to this adsorption threshold of the polymer both the translocation probability of the polymer as well as the permeability of the membrane with respect to solvent are enhanced significantly. The frequency of polymer translocation events can be understood quantitatively assuming a simple diffusion along a one-dimensional free energy profile, which is controlled by the effective lipophilicity of the chain and the tail-packing in the bilayer's core.

Graphical abstract: Homo-polymers with balanced hydrophobicity translocate through lipid bilayers and enhance local solvent permeability

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Apr 2012
Accepted
28 Jun 2012
First published
15 Aug 2012

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 11714-11722

Homo-polymers with balanced hydrophobicity translocate through lipid bilayers and enhance local solvent permeability

M. Werner, J. Sommer and V. A. Baulin, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 11714 DOI: 10.1039/C2SM26008E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements