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Molecular Dynamic Simulation of Transmembrane Pore Growth

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Abstract

A molecular dynamic approach was applied for simulation of dynamics of pore formation and growth in a phospholipid bilayer in the presence of an external electric field. Processing the simulation results permitted recovery of the kinetic coefficients used in the Einstein–Smoluchowski equation describing the dynamics of pore evolution. Two different models of the bilayer membrane were considered: membrane consisting of POPC and POPE lipids. The simulations permitted us to find nonempirical values of the pore energy parameters, which are compared with empirical values. It was found that the parameters are sensitive to membrane type.

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Acknowledgments

Supported in part by Grant of Government of Russian Federation in accordance with government regulation N220 (09.04.210).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kintech Laboratory, Kurchatov Square 1, 123182, Moscow, Russia

    M. Deminsky, A. Kniznik & B. Potapkin

  2. State Research Center RF, Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Russia

    M. Deminsky, A. Eletskii, A. Kniznik & B. Potapkin

  3. Photochemistry Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    A. Odinokov

  4. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, Russia

    V. Pentkovskii

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  1. M. Deminsky
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Correspondence to M. Deminsky.

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Deminsky, M., Eletskii, A., Kniznik, A. et al. Molecular Dynamic Simulation of Transmembrane Pore Growth. J Membrane Biol 246, 821–831 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00232-013-9552-9

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