Issue 29, 2023

Non-equilibrium transport of nanoparticles across the lipid membrane

Abstract

Development of effective strategies for the internalization of nanoparticles is essential in many applications, such as drug delivery. Most, if not all, previous studies are based on equilibrium considerations. In this work, inspired by the recent development of a pro-drug delivery strategy based on reversible esterification, we consider a non-equilibrium transport mechanism for nanoparticles of a 6 nm diameter across the lipid membrane. We divide the transport process into insertion and ejection steps, which are studied with coarse-grained models using free energy and reactive Monte Carlo simulations, respectively. The simulations show that the non-equilibrium transport efficiency is relatively insensitive to the fraction of reactive surface ligands once a modest threshold is surpassed, while the distribution pattern of different (hydrophilic, reactive and permanent hydrophobic) ligands on the nanoparticle surface has a notable impact on both the insertion and ejection steps. Our study thus supports a novel avenue for designing nanoparticles that are able to be efficiently internalized and provides a set of relevant guidelines for surface functionalization.

Graphical abstract: Non-equilibrium transport of nanoparticles across the lipid membrane

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Feb 2023
Accepted
04 Jul 2023
First published
05 Jul 2023

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 12307-12318

Author version available

Non-equilibrium transport of nanoparticles across the lipid membrane

Y. Oh and Q. Cui, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 12307 DOI: 10.1039/D3NR00930K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements