Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Interactions between charges and dipoles inside a lipid membrane are partially screened. The screening arises both from the polarization of water and from the structure of the electric double layer formed by the salt ions outside the membrane. Assuming that the membrane can be represented as a dielectric slab of low dielectric constant sandwiched by an aqueous solution containing mobile ions, a theoretical model is developed to quantify the strength of electrostatic interactions inside a lipid membrane that is valid in the linear limit of Poisson-Boltzmann theory. We determine the electrostatic potential produced by a single point charge that resides inside the slab and from that calculate charge-charge and dipole-dipole interactions as a function of separation. Our approach yields integral representations for these interactions that can easily be evaluated numerically for any choice of parameters and be further simplified in limiting cases.
Source: Molecules
Authors: Guilherme Volpe Bossa, Sylvio May
Language: English
Subfield: Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,112
Awards: G4343248644, G7109314612
OpenAlex ID: W3080602101