A computer simulation study of the influence of microwave sensitisation on interaction between nanoparticles and cell membrane

ABSTRACT

Microwave heating combined with the use of susceptible materials shows potential to enhance nanoparticle (NP)-mediated drug delivery. Understanding the mechanism of their synergistic action on NP transmembrane is helpful for NP design and biocompatibility assessment. The influence of microwave sensitisation on cell membrane fluidity and permeability was investigated through molecular dynamic simulation. On the basis of NP–cell membrane interactions, the transmembrane transport was simulated for the concerned NPs potentially used in biomedical applications. Results show that microwave sensitisation can increase the cell membrane fluidity and permeability and decrease the phospholipid orderliness compared with microwave irradiation. The effect of sensitising materials on membrane structure is very slight under no microwave irradiation. The penetration of positively charged hydrophobic and hydrophilic NPs into the cell membrane can be promoted by applying either microwave irradiation or microwave sensitisation, with the latter having more remarkable effect than the former. The positively charged hydrophobic NPs can penetrate into the membrane more easily than the hydrophilic NPs although their temperature increases are lower. Moreover, the microwave sensitisation enables uncharged hydrophobic NPs to translocate across the membrane whereas the NPs remain stabilised on the surface layer of the membrane when no or only microwave irradiation is applied.

KEYWORDS:

• Microwave heating
• molecular mechanism
• nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery
• susceptible material
• transmembrane

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China for financial support (Grant No. 51890891 and No. 51890894) and Scientific and Technological Innovation Foundation of Shunde Graduate School, USTB (Grant No. BK19AE012).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China for financial support [grant numbers 51890891 and 51890894] and Scientific and Technological Innovation Foundation of Shunde Graduate School, USTB [grant number BK19AE012].