Computer simulation of the effects of nanoparticles' adsorption on the properties of supported lipid bilayer

Supported lipid bilayer (SLB) represents a kind of well-established model cell membrane and is also used for many biosensors or biodevices. Here, for the first time, we use molecular dynamics simulation to study the effects of nanoparticle (NP) adsorption on SLB. In our simulations, the surface charge properties and the heating effects of NPs are investigated. Results show that NPs' adsorption behavior, SLB's diffusion ability, and local order parameter distribution are largely dominated by the property of the NPs' surface charge. Meanwhile the NPs' heating can increase the nearby lipids' and water's thermal motions, thus disrupting the surface charge's domination on the aforementioned properties. Besides, we find that the solid support may induce more intense thermal motions but poorer diffusion ability for the lipid leaflet closer to the support. This study provides useful insights on the NPs' disruption to the functioning of the biological membrane and the performance of SLB-based biosensors or biodevices.