Effects of cholesterol on pore formation in lipid bilayers induced by human islet amyloid polypeptide fragments: a coarse-grained molecular dynamics study

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2011 Nov;84(5 Pt 1):051922. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.84.051922. Epub 2011 Nov 29.

Abstract

Disruption of the cellular membrane by the amyloidogenic peptide, islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), has been considered as one of the mechanisms of β-cell death during type 2 diabetes. The N-terminal region (residues 1-19) of the human version of IAPP is suggested to be primarily responsible for the membrane-disrupting effect of the full-length hIAPP peptide. However, the detailed assembly mode of hIAPP1-19 with membrane remains unclear. To gain insight into the interactions of hIAPP1-19 oligomer with the model membrane, we have employed coarse-grained molecular dynamics self-assembly simulations to study the aggregation of hIAPP1-19 fragments in the binary lipid made of zwitterionic dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and anionic dipalmitoylphosphatidylserine (DPPS) in the presence and absence of different levels of cholesterol content. The membrane-destabilizing effect of hIAPP1-19 is found to be modulated by the presence of cholesterol. In the absence of cholesterol, hIAPP1-19 aggregates prefer to locate inside the bilayer, forming pore-like assemblies. While in the presence of cholesterol molecules, the lipid bilayer becomes more ordered and stiff, and the hIAPP1-19 aggregates are dominantly positioned at the bilayer-water interface. The action of cholesterol may suggest a possible way to maintain the membrane integrity by small molecule interference.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Cell Membrane / chemistry
  • Cell Membrane / metabolism
  • Cholesterol / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Islet Amyloid Polypeptide / chemistry*
  • Islet Amyloid Polypeptide / metabolism
  • Lipid Bilayers / chemistry*
  • Lipid Bilayers / metabolism*
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry*
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism*
  • Porosity
  • Protein Multimerization
  • Water / chemistry

Substances

  • Islet Amyloid Polypeptide
  • Lipid Bilayers
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Water
  • Cholesterol