Molecular dynamics simulations of 500 ps were performed on a system consisting of a bilayer of 64 molecules of the lipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and 23 water molecules per lipid at an isotropic pressure of 1 atm and 50 degrees C. Special attention was devoted to reproduce the correct density of the lipid, because this quantity is known experimentally with a precision better than 1%. For this purpose, the Lennard-Jones parameters of the hydrocarbon chains were adjusted by simulating a system consisting of 128 pentadecane molecules and varying the Lennard-Jones parameters until the experimental density and heat of vaporization were obtained. With these parameters the lipid density resulted in perfect agreement with the experimental density. The orientational order parameter of the hydrocarbon chains agreed perfectly well with the experimental values, which, because of its correlation with the area per lipid, makes it possible to give a proper estimate of the area per lipid of 0.61 +/- 0.01 nm2.

Molecular dynamics simulations of fully hydrated Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers, extending temporal and spatial scales by almost one order of magnitude, are presented. The present work reaches system sizes of 1024 lipids and times 10-60 ns. The simulations uncover significant dynamics and fluctuations on scales of several nanoseconds, and enable direct observation and spectral decomposition of both undulatory and thickness fluctuation modes. Although the former modes are strongly damped, the latter exhibit signs of oscillatory behavior. From this, it has been possible to calculate mesoscopic continuum properties in good agreement with experimental values. A bending modulus of 4 x 10(-20) J, bilayer area compressibility of 250-300 mN/m, and mode relaxation times in the nanosecond range are obtained. The theory of undulatory motions is revised and further extended to cover thickness fluctuations. Finally, it is proposed that thickness fluctuations is the explanation to the observed system-size dependence of equilibrium-projected area per lipid.

To investigate the microscopic interactions between cholesterol and lipids in biological membranes, we have performed a series of molecular dynamics simulations of large membranes with different levels of cholesterol content. The simulations extend to 10 ns, and were performed with hydrated dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers. The bilayers contain 1024 lipids of which 0-40% were cholesterol and the rest DPPC. The effects of cholesterol on the structure and mesoscopic dynamics of the bilayer were monitored as a function of cholesterol concentration. The main effects observed are a significant ordering of the DPPC chains (as monitored by NMR type order parameters), a reduced fraction of gauche bonds, a reduced surface area per lipid, less undulations--corresponding to an increased bending modulus for the membrane, smaller area fluctuations, and a reduced lateral diffusion of DPPC-lipids as well as cholesterols.

The spatial and groupwise distribution of surface tension in a fully hydrated 256 lipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayer is determined from a 5 ns molecular dynamics simulation by resolving the normal and lateral pressures in space through the introduction of a local virial. The resulting surface tension is separated into contributions from different types of interactions and pairwise terms between lipid headgroups, chains and water. By additionally performing a series of five simulations at constant areas ranging from 0.605 to 0.665 nm2 (each of 6 ns length), it is possible to independently resolve the energetic contributions to surface tension from the area dependence of the interaction energies. This also enables us to calculate the remaining entropic part of the tension and the thermal expansivity. Together with the total lateral pressures this yields a full decomposition of surface tension into energetic and entropic contributions from electrostatics, Lennard-Jones and bonded interactions between lipid chains, headgroups and water molecules. The resulting total surface tension in the bilayer is found to be a sum of very large terms of opposing signs, explaining the sensitivity of simulation surface tension to details in force fields. Headgroup and headgroup–water interactions are identified as attractive on average while the chain region wants to expand the bilayer. Both effects are dominated by entropic contributions but there are also substantial energetic terms in the hydrophobic core. The net lateral pressure is small and relatively smooth compared to the individual components, in agreement with experimental observations of DPPC lipids forming stable bilayers.

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