title: Gold nanoparticles in model biological membranes: A computational perspective.
abstract: The electronic, optical, catalytic, and magnetic properties of metal nanoparticles (NPs) make them extremely interesting for biomedical applications. In this rapidly moving field, monolayer-protected gold nanoparticles emerge both as a reference system and as promising candidates for drug and gene delivery, photothermal treatment, and imaging applications. Despite the technological relevance, there is still poor understanding of the molecular processes driving the interactions of metal nanoparticles with cells, and with cell membranes in particular. In this paper we review molecular-level computational studies of the interaction between monolayer-protected gold NPs and model lipid membranes. Our review comprises a brief description of the most relevant experimental results in this field and of the questions they raised, followed by a description of the computational achievements reported so far. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Biosimulations edited by Ilpo Vattulainen and Tomasz Róg.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Genoa, via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: rossig@fisica.unige.it.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Molecular Microbiology and Structural Biochemistry (MMSB), CNRS UMR 5086, 7 Passage du Vercors, 69007 Lyon, France. Electronic address: luca.monticelli@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Monticelli
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D006046:Gold
keywords: Computer simulation; Gold; Lipid membrane; Molecular dynamics; Nanoparticle