Paper Citing NAMD - Abstract
Florencia Martini, M.; Pickholz, Monica
Molecular dynamics study of uncharged bupivacaine enantiomers in phospholipid bilayers
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, 112:3341-3345, OCT 15 2012
To investigate the effects of the uncharged bupivacaine (BVC) on the properties of model membranes of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (POPC), we have performed a series of molecular dynamics simulations. A very particular characteristic of the local anesthetic BVC, that is being discuss in the recent literature, is that their enantiomers R-(+) (R-BVC) and S-(-) (S-BVC) present different activities. In this way, we have studied both enantiomers in a POPC phospholipids bilayers at a high molar ratios [local anesthetic (LA):lipid of 1:3]. The simulations were able to capture important features of the BVCphospholipid bilayer interactions: BVC molecules are found in the interior of the bilayer. The R-BVC enantiomer follows a bimodal distribution with access to the waterlipid interface; while the S-BVC is found, in more uniform distribution, at the hydrophobic region. A decrease in the acyl chain segment order parameters, SCD, compared to neat bilayers, is found. Furthermore, this behavior is more noticeable for the R-BVC form. The found decrease in SCD is attributed to a larger accessible volume per lipid in the tail region. Our results could help to understand the higher toxicity of this enantiomer. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
