Hilder Tamsyn A, Gaston Nicola
Computational Biophysics Group, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia.
MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand.
Chemphyschem. 2016 Jun 3;17(11):1573-8. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201600165. Epub 2016 Mar 15.
Boron nitride nanomaterials have attracted attention for biomedical applications, due to their improved biocompatibility when compared with carbon nanomaterials. Recently, graphene and graphene oxide nanosheets have been shown, both experimentally and computationally, to destructively extract phospholipids from Escherichia coli. Boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) have exciting potential biological and environmental applications, for example the ability to remove oil from water. These applications are likely to increase the exposure of prokaryotes and eukaryotes to BNNSs. Yet, despite their promise, the interaction between BNNSs and cell membranes has not yet been investigated. Here, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations were used to demonstrate that BNNSs are spontaneously attracted to the polar headgroups of the lipid bilayer. The BNNSs do not passively cross the lipid bilayer, most likely due to the large forces experienced by the BNNSs. This study provides insight into the interaction of BNNSs with cell membranes and may aid our understanding of their improved biocompatibility.
与碳纳米材料相比，氮化硼纳米材料因其更好的生物相容性而在生物医学应用中受到关注。最近，实验和计算结果均表明，石墨烯和氧化石墨烯纳米片会从大肠杆菌中破坏性地提取磷脂。氮化硼纳米片（BNNSs）在生物和环境应用方面具有令人兴奋的潜力，例如具有从水中去除油污的能力。这些应用可能会增加原核生物和真核生物与BNNSs的接触。然而，尽管BNNSs前景广阔，但尚未对其与细胞膜之间的相互作用进行研究。在此，通过全原子分子动力学模拟证明，BNNSs会自发地被脂质双层的极性头部基团吸引。BNNSs不会被动穿过脂质双层，这很可能是由于BNNSs受到的力较大。这项研究深入了解了BNNSs与细胞膜之间的相互作用，可能有助于我们理解其更好的生物相容性。
