Research highlight: Atomistic simulations unveil the mechanics of how emerging 2D materials interact with cell membranes

Are you wondering how 2D materials interact with cell membranes?

Find out how hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanosheets can induce water channels across lipid bilayers, leading to lysosomal membrane permeabilization, in an exciting work recently published on Advanced Materials!

With the state-of-the-art modeling and experiments, a team of scientists led by Prof. Gao Huajian at Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) discovered for the first time a unique interaction mechanism between hBN flakes and lipid membrane: a sharp hBN could penetrate a lipid bilayer and form a cross-membrane water channel along its exposed polar edges. In contrast, a round hBN sheet could not penetrate a lipid bilayer due to high energy barrier and a lack of sufficiently long polar edges. This discovery led us to hypothesize a new mechanism of cytotoxicity of hBN: water channels induced lysosomal membrane permeabilization. The hypothesis was then experimentally confirmed. This mechanism is fundamentally different from all known membrane damaging mechanisms of 2dmaterials and may have general implications for all binary or multielement 2D materials with polar edges

 

https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202103137

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