The role of membrane curvature for the wrapping of nanoparticles

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the initial curvature of cell membranes influences the nanoparticle wrapping process, revealing that membrane shape can create stable or barrier states affecting internalization.

Contribution

It demonstrates that membrane curvature prior to wrapping significantly impacts nanoparticle internalization, a factor previously less emphasized compared to size and shape.

Findings

Membrane segments bulging away from nanoparticles can stabilize partial wrapping.

Membrane segments bulging towards nanoparticles can create energetic barriers to wrapping.

Membrane curvature influences the stability and barriers in nanoparticle wrapping.

Abstract

Cellular internalization of nanoparticles requires the full wrapping of the nanoparticles by the cell membrane. This wrapping process can occur spontaneously if the adhesive interactions between the nanoparticles and the membranes are sufficiently strong to compensate for the cost of membrane bending. In this article, we show that the membrane curvature prior to wrapping plays a key role for the wrapping process, besides the size and shape of the nanoparticles that have been investigated in recent years. For membrane segments that initially bulge away from nanoparticles by having a mean curvature of the same sign as the mean curvature of the particle surface, we find strongly stable partially wrapped states that can prevent full wrapping. For membrane segments that initially bulge towards the nanoparticles, in contrast, partially wrapped states can constitute a significant energetic barrier for the wrapping process.