Choi Moon-Ki, Kim Hyunki, Lee Byung Ho, Kim Teayeop, Rho Junsuk, Kim Moon Ki, Kim Kyunghoon
School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
Nanotechnology. 2018 Mar 16;29(11):115702. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/aaa77b.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been considered a prominent nano-channel in cell membranes because of their prominent ion-conductance and ion-selectivity, offering agents for a biomimetic channel platform. Using a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation, we clarify a construction mechanism of vertical CNT nano-channels in a lipid membrane for a long period, which has been difficult to observe in previous CNT-lipid interaction simulations. The result shows that both the lipid coating density and length of CNT affect the suitable fabrication condition for a vertical and stable CNT channel. Also, simulation elucidated that a lipid coating on the surface of the CNT prevents the CNT from burrowing into the lipid membrane and the vertical channel is stabilized by the repulsion force between the lipids in the coating and membrane. Our study provides an essential understanding of how CNTs can form stable and vertical channels in the membrane, which is important for designing new types of artificial channels as biosensors for bio-fluidic studies.
由于其显著的离子传导性和离子选择性，碳纳米管（CNTs）被认为是细胞膜中一种突出的纳米通道，为仿生通道平台提供了物质。通过粗粒度分子动力学模拟，我们长期阐明了脂质膜中垂直碳纳米管纳米通道的构建机制，这在以前的碳纳米管-脂质相互作用模拟中很难观察到。结果表明，碳纳米管的脂质涂层密度和长度都会影响垂直且稳定的碳纳米管通道的合适制造条件。此外，模拟表明，碳纳米管表面的脂质涂层可防止碳纳米管钻入脂质膜，并且涂层中的脂质与膜之间的排斥力使垂直通道得以稳定。我们的研究为碳纳米管如何在膜中形成稳定的垂直通道提供了重要理解，这对于设计新型人工通道作为生物流体研究的生物传感器非常重要。
