Membrane Pore Formation Induced by Acetylated and Polyethylene Glycol-Conjugated Polyamidoamine Dendrimers

We performed molecular dynamics (MD) simu-lations of 36 copies of unmodified (charged), acetylated, and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-conjugated G4 dendrimers in dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) bilayers with explicit water using coarse-grained (CG) lipid and PEG force fields (FF). Attachment of small PEG chains to the dendrimer leads to the same reduction in membrane permeability as does attachment of acetyl groups, while a larger PEG size or a higher degree of PEGylation induces even fewer pores. This indicates that PEGylation is more efficient than acetylation in reducing membrane permeability and cytotoxicity, in qualitative agreement with experimental findings (Kim et al. Bioconjugate Chem. 2008, 19, 1660). Attachment of larger PEG chains makes the dendrimer−PEG complex larger and more spherical. Although a larger size and a more spherical shape are usually conducive to pore formation, a thick PEG layer on the dendrimer surface blocks the charge interaction between cationic dendrimer terminals and a...