2017/10/18 by Clark Bowman, Mark A. J. Chaplain, Bowman, Clark +3
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · #76Z99 #92B99 #Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Subcellular Processes (q-bio.SC)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1710.09268
openalex publication_date 2017/10/18 · openalex created_date 2022/10/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate with computer simulations the critical radius of pores in a\nlipid bilayer membrane. Ilton et al. (2016) recently showed that nucleated\npores in a homopolymer film can increase or decrease in size, depending on\nwhether they are larger or smaller than a critical size which scales linearly\nwith film thickness. Using dissipative particle dynamics, a particle-based\nsimulation method, we investigate the same scenario for a lipid bilayer\nmembrane whose structure is determined by lipid-water interactions. We simulate\na perforated membrane in which holes larger than a critical radius grow, while\nholes smaller than the critical radius close, as in the experiment of Ilton et\nal. (2016). By altering system parameters such as the number of particles per\nlipid and the periodicity, we also describe scenarios in which pores of any\ninitial size can seal or even remain stable, showing a fundamental difference\nin the behavior of lipid membranes from polymer films.\n