Dresden 2011 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 19: Biological Membranes II
BP 19.2: Talk
Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 14:15–14:30, ZEU 260
Lipid bilayers interacting with polymer chains — •Marco Werner1,2 and Jens-Uwe Sommer1,2 — 1Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden, Germany — 2Technische Universität Dresden - Institut für Theoretische Physik
We apply the bond fluctuation model [I. Carmesin and K. Kremer, Macromol. 21, 2819 (1988)], a lattice-based Monte Carlo method, to study amphiphile bilayers and their interactions with polymers. Hydrophobic interactions are induced by explicit solvent. This allows us to simulate self assembling planar bilayers, vesicles and hydrophobic polymers avoiding artificial freezing effects. We focus on the spectrum of effects which arise when bringing together fluctuating bilayers and flexible polymers of various compositions and hydrophobic interactions. Particular effects like translocation of polymers through membranes [T. Goda, Y. Goto and K. Ishihara, Biomaterials 31, 2380 (2010)] and changes in membrane-permeability [A.L. Lynch, R. Chen, P.J. Dominowski, E.Y. Shalaev, R.J. Yancey Jr. and N.K.H. Slater, Biomaterials 31, 2380 (2010)] have been observed experimentally and might become relevant for drug delivery and cell reprogramming. In our simulations we use the local permeability of the membrane as a measure for the perturbation due to interacting polymers. We found that homopolymers with moderate hydrophobicity get weakly adsorbed hence inducing larger fluctuations. This enhances the permeability for solvent locally. On the other hand, strongly hydrophobic chains are trapped in the hydrophobic layer where they act as stoppers for permeating solvent.