Volume 41, Issue 5 pp. 421-426
Full Paper

Modulation of membrane permeability by carbon dioxide

Hong Zhang

Hong Zhang

Research Center for Analytical Sciences, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin, 300071 People's Republic of China

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Xueguang Shao

Xueguang Shao

Research Center for Analytical Sciences, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin, 300071 People's Republic of China

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François Dehez

François Dehez

Laboratoire International Associé CNRS and University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54506 France

LPCT, UMR 7019 Université de Lorraine CNRS, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54500 France

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Wensheng Cai

Corresponding Author

Wensheng Cai

Research Center for Analytical Sciences, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin, 300071 People's Republic of China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
Christophe Chipot

Corresponding Author

Christophe Chipot

Laboratoire International Associé CNRS and University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54506 France

LPCT, UMR 7019 Université de Lorraine CNRS, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54500 France

Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
First published: 03 September 2019
Citations: 5

Abstract

Promoting drug delivery across the biological membrane is a common strategy to improve bioavailability. Inspired by the observation that carbonated alcoholic beverages can increase the absorption rate of ethanol, we speculate that carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules could also enhance membrane permeability to drugs. In the present work, we have investigated the effect of CO2 on the permeability of a model membrane formed by 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine lipids to three drug-like molecules, namely, ethanol, 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine, and trimethoprim. The free-energy and fractional-diffusivity profiles underlying membrane translocation were obtained from μs-timescale simulations and combined in the framework of the fractional solubility-diffusion model. We find that addition of CO2 in the lipid environment results in an increase of the membrane permeability to the three substrates. Further analysis of the permeation events reveals that CO2 expands and loosens the membrane, which, in turn, facilitates permeation of the drug-like molecules. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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