Web Release Date: April 22,
Nanopore Formation and Phosphatidylserine Externalization in a Phospholipid Bilayer at High Transmembrane Potential
Departments of Electrical Engineering and Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0271, MOSIS, Information Sciences Institute, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, California 90292, and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
Received December 30, 2005
Abstract:
Atomic-resolution molecular dynamics simulations of lipid bilayers containing 7% phosphatidylserine (PS) on one leaflet are consistent with experimental observations of membrane poration and PS externalization in living cells exposed to nanosecond, megavolt-per-meter electric pulses. Nanometer-diameter aqueous pores develop within nanoseconds after application of an electric field of 450 mV/nm, and electrophoretic transport of the anionic PS headgroup along the newly constructed hydrophilic pore surface commences even while pore formation is still in progress.
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