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On the Electroporation Thresholds of Lipid Bilayers: Molecular Dynamics Simulation Investigations

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Abstract

Electroporation relates to the cascade of events that follows the application of high electric fields and that leads to cell membrane permeabilization. Despite a wide range of applications, little is known about the electroporation threshold, which varies with membrane lipid composition. Here, using molecular dynamics simulations, we studied the response of dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine, diphytanoyl-phosphocholine-ester and diphytanoyl-phosphocholine-ether lipid bilayers to an applied electric field. Comparing between lipids with acyl chains and methyl branched chains and between lipids with ether and ester linkages, which change drastically the membrane dipole potential, we found that in both cases the electroporation threshold differed substantially. We show, for the first time, that the electroporation threshold of a lipid bilayer depends not only on the “electrical” properties of the membrane, i.e., its dipole potential, but also on the properties of its component hydrophobic tails.

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Acknowledgments

This work was in part supported by the Slovenian Research Agency. Research was conducted in the scope of the EBAM European Associated Laboratory. The article is a result of the networking efforts of COST Action TD1104. Part of the calculations and the finalization of the article was performed during the Short-Term Scientific Mission (Grant 070113-021794, to A. P.). Simulations were performed using HPC resources from GENCI-CINES (Grant 2012-076434). The authors thank the ANR Intcell program (ANR-10-BLAN-096).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Tržaška cesta 25, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Andraž Polak, Peter Kramar & Damijan Miklavčič

  2. CNRS, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7565, Université de Lorraine, Campus Science Grignard, Vandoeuvre-lés-Nancy, BP 239, 54506, Nancy Cedex, France

    Daniel Bonhenry, François Dehez & Mounir Tarek

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  1. Andraž Polak
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  2. Daniel Bonhenry
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  3. François Dehez
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  4. Peter Kramar
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  5. Damijan Miklavčič
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  6. Mounir Tarek
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Correspondence to Mounir Tarek.

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Polak, A., Bonhenry, D., Dehez, F. et al. On the Electroporation Thresholds of Lipid Bilayers: Molecular Dynamics Simulation Investigations. J Membrane Biol 246, 843–850 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00232-013-9570-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00232-013-9570-7

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