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Generation‐Dependent Gel–Fluid Phase Transition of Membrane Caused by a PAMAM Dendrimer
Author(s) -
Xie LiQiang,
Feng JiaWei,
Tian Wende,
Ma YuQiang
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
macromolecular theory and simulations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-3919
pISSN - 1022-1344
DOI - 10.1002/mats.201400029
Subject(s) - dendrimer , membrane , lipid bilayer , chemistry , biophysics , bilayer , endocytosis , phase transition , internalization , phase (matter) , materials science , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry , cell , biochemistry , thermodynamics , physics , engineering , biology
Coarse‐grained molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the effects of dendrimer size and lipid phase on the dendrimer–membrane interactions. It is found that the low‐generation dendrimer flattens on the gel‐phase bilayer without any disturbance of lipids, while dendrimers with immediate generation can fluidize the upper leaflet of the membrane. High‐generation dendrimers can induce the gel–fluid phase transition of lipids in the vicinity of the dendrimer and the significant bending of membranes. The phase transition is companied by membrane thinning and facilitates a domain formation on the membrane. The findings suggest that high‐generation dendrimers are much more effective in disturbing membranes not only at high temperature but also at low temperature. This work is helpful to understand the binding and internalization mechanisms of cationic nanoparticles into cells involving lipid rafts and endocytosis.