Institut für Theoretische Physik II: Weiche Materie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
J Chem Phys. 2019 Feb 14;150(6):064906. doi: 10.1063/1.5080807.
The interaction between nano- or micro-sized particles and cell membranes is of crucial importance in many biological and biomedical applications such as drug and gene delivery to cells and tissues. During their cellular uptake, the particles can pass through cell membranes via passive endocytosis or by active penetration to reach a target cellular compartment or organelle. In this manuscript, we develop a simple model to describe the interaction of a self-driven spherical particle (moving through an effective constant active force) with a minimal membrane system, allowing for both penetration and trapping. We numerically calculate the state diagram of this system, the membrane shape, and its dynamics. In this context, we show that the active particle may either get trapped near the membrane or penetrate through it, where the membrane can either be permanently destroyed or recover its initial shape by self-healing. Additionally, we systematically derive a continuum description allowing us to accurately predict most of our results analytically. This analytical theory helps in identifying the generic aspects of our model, suggesting that most of its ingredients should apply to a broad range of membranes, from simple model systems composed of magnetic microparticles to lipid bilayers. Our results might be useful to predict the mechanical properties of synthetic minimal membranes.
纳米或微米级颗粒与细胞膜之间的相互作用在许多生物和生物医学应用中至关重要，例如将药物和基因递送到细胞和组织中。在细胞摄取过程中，颗粒可以通过被动内吞作用或主动穿透到达目标细胞区室或细胞器。在本文中，我们开发了一个简单的模型来描述一个自驱动的球形颗粒（通过有效的恒定主动力移动）与最小膜系统的相互作用，允许穿透和捕获。我们通过数值计算了这个系统的状态图、膜的形状及其动力学。在这种情况下，我们表明，活性颗粒可能会被困在膜附近，或者穿透膜，膜可能会被永久破坏，或者通过自修复恢复初始形状。此外，我们系统地推导出一个连续体描述，使我们能够准确地对大多数结果进行分析预测。该分析理论有助于确定我们模型的通用方面，表明其大多数成分应该适用于广泛的膜，从由磁性微颗粒组成的简单模型系统到脂质双层。我们的结果可能有助于预测合成最小膜的力学性能。
