Curvature-Regulated Lipid Membrane Softening of Nano-Vesicles.

ABSTRACT: The physico-mechanical properties of nanoscale lipid vesicles (e.g., natural nano-vesicles and artificial nano-liposomes) dictate their interaction with biological systems. Understanding the interplay between vesicle size and stiffness is critical to both the understanding of the biological functions of natural nano-vesicles and the optimization of nano-vesicle-based diagnostics and therapeutics. It has been predicted that, when vesicle size is comparable to its membrane thickness, the effective bending stiffness of the vesicle increases dramatically due to both the entropic effect as a result of reduced thermal undulation and the nonlinear curvature elasticity effect. Through systematic molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the vesicle membrane thins and softens with the decrease i

SUBMITTER: Chng CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7853652 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature