Effect of pressure profile of shock waves on lipid membrane deformation

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 2; p. e0212566
• Main Authors: Kfoury, Ralph, Marzban, Bahador, Makki, Emad, Greenfield, Michael L, Yuan, Hongyan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 21.02.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomechanical Phenomena; Cell Membrane - chemistry; Cell Membrane - metabolism; Cell Membrane Permeability; Cell membranes; Cell permeability; Cholesterol; Cytoplasm; Deformation; Deformation effects; Drug delivery; Drug delivery systems; Engineering; Gene therapy; Genes; High pressure; Humans; Lipid bilayers; Lipid Bilayers - chemistry; Lipid Bilayers - metabolism; Lipid membranes; Lipids; Low pressure; Macromolecules; Membrane lipids; Membrane Lipids - chemistry; Membrane Lipids - metabolism; Membrane permeability; Membranes; Molecular dynamics; Molecular Dynamics Simulation; Peak pressure; Permeability; Physical Sciences; Pressure; Pressure effects; Pressure profiles; Pulse duration; Research and Analysis Methods; Shock; Shock pulses; Shock waves; Simulation; Solvents; Translocation; Velocity; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212566

Use of shock waves to temporarily increase the permeability of the cell membrane is a promising approach in drug delivery and gene therapy to allow the translocation of macromolecules and small polar molecules into the cytoplasm. Our understanding of how the characteristics of the pressure profile of shock waves, such as peak pressure and pulse duration, influences membrane properties is limited. Here we study the response of lipid bilayer membranes to shock pulses with different pressure profiles using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. From our simulation results, we find that the transient deformation/disordering of the membrane depends on both the magnitude and the pulse duration of the pressure profile of the shock pulse. For a low pressure impulse, peak pressure has a dominant effect on membrane structural changes, while for the high pressure impulse, we find that there exists an optimal pulse duration at which membrane deformation/disordering is maximized.