Cell-inspired, massive electromodulation of interfacial energy dissipation

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that electric fields similar to those across cell membranes can massively and reversibly modulate interfacial energy dissipation, revealing new insights into membrane behavior and potential material applications.

Contribution

The paper uncovers a novel, reversible electromodulation of interfacial energy dissipation in lipid bilayers, linking electroporation to topological slip reconfiguration.

Findings

Electric fields cause up to 200-fold increase in energy dissipation.

Electroporation leads to formation of bilayer bridges resembling stalks in fusion.

Reversible modulation affects membrane slip behavior.

Abstract

Transient electric fields across cell bilayer membranes can lead to electroporation, as well as to cell fusion, and have been extensively studied. We find that transmembrane electric fields similar to those in cells can lead to a massive, reversible modulation--by up to 200-fold--of the interfacial energy dissipation between surfaces sliding across the lipid bilayer membranes. Atomistic simulations reveal that this arises from (fully reversible) electroporation of the interfacially-confined bilayers, and formation of bilayer bridges analogous to stalks preceding intermembrane fusion. These cell-membrane-mimicking effects topologically-force the slip to partially-revert from the low-dissipation, hydrated lipid-headgroups plane to the intra-bilayer, high-dissipation acyl tail interface. Our results demonstrate that lipid bilayers under transmembrane electric fields can have striking materials-modification properties, and shed new light on membrane hemifusion.