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Fullerenes’ Interactions with Plasma Membranes: Insight from the MD Simulations. Biomolecules 2022; 12:biom12050639. [PMID: 35625567 PMCID: PMC9138838 DOI: 10.3390/biom12050639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the interactions between carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) and biological membranes is critically important for applications of CNPs in biomedicine and toxicology. Due to the complexity and diversity of the systems, most molecular simulation studies have focused on the interactions of CNPs and single component bilayers. In this work, we performed coarse-grained molecular dynamic (CGMD) simulations to investigate the behaviors of fullerenes in the presence of multiple lipid components in the plasma membranes with varying fullerene concentrations. Our results reveal that fullerenes can spontaneously penetrate the plasma membrane. Interestingly, fullerenes prefer to locate themselves in the region of the highly unsaturated lipids that are enriched in the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. This causes fullerene aggregation even at low concentrations. When increasing fullerene concentrations, the fullerene clusters grow, and budding may emerge at the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. Our findings suggest by tuning the lipid composition, fullerenes can be loaded deeply inside the plasma membrane, which can be useful for designing drug carrier liposomes. Moreover, the mechanisms of how fullerenes perturb multicomponent cell membranes and how they directly enter the cell are proposed. These insights can help to determine fullerene toxicity in living cells.
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Gul G, Ileri-Ercan N. Fullerene translocation through peroxidized lipid membranes. RSC Adv 2021; 11:7575-7586. [PMID: 35423238 PMCID: PMC8694942 DOI: 10.1039/d1ra00272d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent cytotoxicity research suggests that fullerenes can enter the cell and cross the blood-brain barrier. However, the underlying toxicity mechanism behind the penetration of fullerenes through biological membranes is still not well understood. Here we perform coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the interactions of fullerenes and their polar derivatives (Janus) with model regular and peroxidized bilayers. We show that the translocation of fullerenes and their residence time in bulk water vary depending on the bilayer's peroxidation degree and fullerene polarity. The distribution of fullerenes inside the bilayer is mainly determined by the peroxidation degree and the saturation level of lipid acyl chains. The transport of pristine fullerenes through bilayers occurs at nano timescale while the complete diffusion may not be achieved for Janus fullerenes in micro timescale. As for the toxic response of fullerenes in terms of membrane damage, no mechanical disruption of model bilayers is observed throughout the studied simulation times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gulsah Gul
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Bogazici University Istanbul Turkey
| | - Nazar Ileri-Ercan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Bogazici University Istanbul Turkey
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Nisoh N, Jarerattanachat V, Karttunen M, Wong-Ekkabut J. Formation of aggregates, icosahedral structures and percolation clusters of fullerenes in lipids bilayers: The key role of lipid saturation. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES 2020; 1862:183328. [PMID: 32343957 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2020.183328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2020] [Revised: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) are attractive materials for a great number of applications but there are serious concerns regarding their influence on health and environment. Here, our focus is on the behavior of fullerenes in lipid bilayers with varying lipid saturations, chain lengths and fullerene concentrations using coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD) simulations. Our findings show that the lipid saturation level is a key factor in determining how fullerenes behave and where the fullerenes are located inside a lipid bilayer. In saturated and monounsaturated bilayers fullerenes aggregated and formed clusters with some of them showing icosahedral structures. In polyunsaturated lipid bilayers, no such structures were observed: In polyunsaturated lipid bilayers at high fullerene concentrations, connected percolation-like networks of fullerenes spanning the whole lateral area emerged at the bilayer center. In other systems only separate isolated aggregates were observed. The effects of fullerenes on lipid bilayers depend strongly on fullerene aggregation. When fullerenes aggregate, their interactions with the lipid tails change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nililla Nisoh
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; Computational Biomodelling Laboratory for Agricultural Science and Technology (CBLAST), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP Center), Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Viwan Jarerattanachat
- Computational Biomodelling Laboratory for Agricultural Science and Technology (CBLAST), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; Specialized Center of Rubber and Polymer Materials for Agriculture and Industry (RPM), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; NSTDA Supercomputer Center (ThaiSC), National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Khlong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
| | - Mikko Karttunen
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada; Department of Applied Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada; The Centre for Advanced Materials Research (CAMBR), The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Jirasak Wong-Ekkabut
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; Computational Biomodelling Laboratory for Agricultural Science and Technology (CBLAST), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP Center), Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Bangkok 10400, Thailand; Specialized Center of Rubber and Polymer Materials for Agriculture and Industry (RPM), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
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Nalakarn P, Boonnoy P, Nisoh N, Karttunen M, Wong-Ekkabut J. Dependence of fullerene aggregation on lipid saturation due to a balance between entropy and enthalpy. Sci Rep 2019; 9:1037. [PMID: 30705323 PMCID: PMC6355782 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37659-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well-known that fullerenes aggregate inside lipid membranes and that increasing the concentration may lead to (lethal) membrane rupture. It is not known, however, how aggregation and rupture depend on the lipid type, what physical mechanisms control this behavior and what experimental signatures detect such changes in membranes. In this paper, we attempt to answer these questions with molecular simulations, and we show that aggregation and membrane damage depend critically on the degree of saturation of the lipid acyl chains: unsaturated bonds, or "kinks", impose a subtle but crucial compartmentalization of the bilayer into core and surface regions leading to three distinct fullerene density maxima. In contrast, when the membrane has only fully saturated lipids, fullerenes prefer to be located close to the surface under the head groups until the concentration becomes too large and the fullerenes begin clustering. No clustering is observed in membranes with unsaturated lipids. The presence of "kinks" reverses the free energy balance; although the overall free energy profiles are similar, entropy is the dominant component in unsaturated bilayers whereas enthalpy controls the fully saturated ones. Fully saturated systems show two unique signatures: 1) membrane thickness behaves non-monotonously while the area per lipid increases monotonously. We propose this as a potential reason for the observations of low fullerene concentrations being effective against bacteria. 2) The fullerene-fullerene radial distribution function (RDF) shows splitting of the second peak indicating the emergence short-range order and the importance of the second-nearest neighbor interactions. Similar second peak splitting has been reported in metal glasses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pornkamon Nalakarn
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
- Computational Biomodelling Laboratory for Agricultural Science and Technology (CBLAST), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
- Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP Center), Commission on Higher Education, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Phansiri Boonnoy
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
- Computational Biomodelling Laboratory for Agricultural Science and Technology (CBLAST), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
| | - Nililla Nisoh
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
- Computational Biomodelling Laboratory for Agricultural Science and Technology (CBLAST), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
- Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP Center), Commission on Higher Education, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Mikko Karttunen
- Department of Chemistry and Department of Applied Mathematics, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada.
| | - Jirasak Wong-Ekkabut
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
- Computational Biomodelling Laboratory for Agricultural Science and Technology (CBLAST), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
- Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP Center), Commission on Higher Education, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand.
- Specialized Center of Rubber and Polymer Materials for Agriculture and Industry (RPM), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
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