Institut Charles Sadron, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, UPR022, 67034 Strasbourg Cedex, France
Institut Charles Sadron, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, UPR022, 67034 Strasbourg Cedex, France.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Jan 26;118(4). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2016037118.
Growth of plastic waste in the natural environment, and in particular in the oceans, has raised the accumulation of polystyrene and other polymeric species in eukyarotic cells to the level of a credible and systemic threat. Oligomers, the smallest products of polymer degradation or incomplete polymerization reactions, are the first species to leach out of macroscopic or nanoscopic plastic materials. However, the fundamental mechanisms of interaction between oligomers and polymers with the different cell components are yet to be elucidated. Simulations performed on lipid bilayers showed changes in membrane mechanical properties induced by polystyrene, but experimental results performed on cell membranes or on cell membrane models are still missing. We focus here on understanding how embedded styrene oligomers affect the phase behavior of model membranes using a combination of scattering, fluorescence, and calorimetric techniques. Our results show that styrene oligomers disrupt the phase behavior of lipid membranes, modifying the thermodynamics of the transition through a spatial modulation of lipid composition.
在自然环境中，尤其是在海洋中，塑料废物的增长导致聚苯乙烯和其他聚合物质在真核细胞中的积累达到了可信且系统性威胁的水平。低聚物是聚合物降解或不完全聚合反应的最小产物，是最早从宏观或纳米塑料材料中浸出的物质。然而，低聚物与不同细胞成分之间的相互作用的基本机制仍有待阐明。在脂质双层上进行的模拟显示了聚苯乙烯引起的膜机械性能的变化，但在细胞膜或细胞膜模型上进行的实验结果仍然缺失。我们在这里专注于使用散射、荧光和量热技术的组合来理解嵌入的苯乙烯低聚物如何影响模型膜的相行为。我们的结果表明，苯乙烯低聚物破坏了脂质膜的相行为，通过脂质组成的空间调制来改变相变的热力学。
