Related papers: Voltage-gated lipid ion channels
With the ability to selectively control ionic flux, biological protein ion channels perform a fundamental role in many physiological processes. For practical applications that require the functionality of a biological ion channel, graphene…
Reliable and controllable switches are crucial in nanofluidics and iontronics. Ion channels in nature serve as a rich source of inspiration due to their intricate mechanisms modulated by stimuli like pressure, temperature, chemicals, and…
In a study of the role that voltage-dependent K+ channels may have in the mechanosensation of living cells (Schmidt et al. Proc Soc Natl Acad Sci USA 109: 10352-10357. 2012), the data were as conventionally done fitted by a Boltzmann…
Voltage-dependent ion channels determine the electric properties of axonal cell membranes. They not only allow the passage of ions through the cell membrane but also contribute to an additional charging of the cell membrane resulting in the…
Voltage distribution in sub-cellular micro-domains such as neuronal synapses, small protrusions or dendritic spines regulates the opening and closing of ionic channels, energy production and thus cellular homeostasis and excitability. Yet…
An intense controversy has surrounded the mechanism of voltage-gating in ion channels. We interpreted the two leading models of voltage-gating with respect to the thermodynamic energetics of membrane insertion of the voltage-sensing…
Whether live cell membranes show miscibility phase transitions (MPTs), and if so, how they fluctuate near the transitions remain outstanding unresolved issues in physics and biology alike. Motivated by these questions we construct a generic…
Consider a lipid membrane with a free exposed edge. The energy describing this membrane is quadratic in the extrinsic curvature of its geometry; that describing the edge is proportional to its length. In this note we determine the boundary…
We investigate the formation of the one-dimensional channels on the topological surface under the gate electrode. The energy dispersion of these channels is almost linear in the momentum with the velocity sensitively depending on the…
We study the indentation of a free-standing lipid membrane suspended over a nanopore on a hydrophobic substrate by means of molecular dynamics simulations. We find that in the course of indentation, the membrane bends at the point of…
We consider ion transport through protein ion channels in lipid membranes and water-filled nanopores in silicon films. It is known that, due to the large ratio of dielectric constants of water and the surrounding material, an ion placed…
Contrary to existing theoretical models, experimental evidence points out that electroporation (membrane defect formation under external electric fields) starts to occur within the range of transmembrane voltages that cells may routinely…
Random lateral translocation of lipids and proteins is a universal process on membrane surfaces. Local aggregation or organization of lipids and proteins can be induced when this lateral random diffusion is mediated by the electrostatic…
Hydrated interfaces are ubiquitous in biology and appear on all length scales from ions, individual molecules to membranes and cellular networks. In vivo, they comprise a high degree of self-organization and complex entanglement, which…
We use a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the interaction between neutral or charged nanoparticles (NPs) and a vesicle consisting of neutral and negatively charged lipids. We focus on the interaction strengths of…
A two-dimensional (2D) model is developed to describe the growth of spotty patterns (domains) in the lipid membranes which result from the coagulation of ion channels. It is assumed that the ion channels can coagulate when activated, e.g.…
We examine theoretically porous membranes in aqueous mixtures. We show that large membrane pores can be reversibly gated from `off' (co-solvent-rich, poor conductor of ions and other solutes) to 'on' (water-rich, good conductor) states by…
Excitability is an attribute of life, and is a driving force in the descent of complexity. Cellular electrical activity as realized by membrane proteins that act as either channels or transporters is the basis of excitability. Electrical…
In hydrodynamic descriptions of lipid bilayers, the membrane is often approximated as being impermeable to the surrounding, solute-containing fluid. However, biological and in vitro lipid membranes are influenced by their permeability and…
Continuum simulation is employed to study ion transport and fluid flow through a nanopore in a solid-state membrane under an applied potential drop. Results show the existence of concentration polarization layers on the surfaces of the…