title: Structural and kinetic molecular dynamics study of electroporation in cholesterol-containing bilayers.
abstract: We present a numerical study of pore formation in lipid bilayers containing cholesterol (Chol) and subjected to a transverse electric field. Molecular dynamics simulations of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DOPC) membranes reveal the formation of a pore when an electric field of 325 mV/nm is applied. The minimum electric field needed for membrane permeabilization strongly increases with the addition of cholesterol above 10 mol %, reaching 750 mV/nm for 40 mol % Chol. Analysis of simulations of DOPC/Chol bilayers suggests this is caused by a substantial increment of membrane cohesion. Simulations also show that pore formation kinetics is much slower at high Chol contents.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Sistemas Complejos, Departamento de Computación, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sagués
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reigada
mesh_terms: D002784:Cholesterol / Q000737:chemistry*; D018274:Electroporation; D007700:Kinetics; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D002784:Cholesterol; C017251:1,2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine