A real-time and in-situ monitoring of the molecular interactions between drug carrier polymers and a phospholipid membrane

The dynamic interactions between drug carrier molecules and a cell membrane can not be ignored in their clinical use. Here a simple, label-free and non-invasive approach, photo-voltage transient method, combined with the atomic force microscopy, dynamic giant unilamellar vesicle leakage assay and cytotoxicity method, was employed for a real-time monitoring of the interaction process. Two representative polymer molecules, polyoxyethylene (35) lauryl ether (Brij35) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVPk30), were taken as examples to interact with a phospholipid bilayer membrane in a low ionic strength and neutral pH condition. Brij35 demonstrated an adsorption-accumulation-permeabilization dominated process under the modulation of polymer concentration in the solution. In contrast, PVPk30 performed a dynamic balance between adsorption-desorption of the molecules and/or permeabilization-resealing of the membrane. Such difference explains the high and low cytotoxicity of them, respectively, in the living cell tests. Briefly, through combining the photo-voltage approach with conventional fluorescent microscopy method, this work demonstrates new ideas on the time and membrane actions of polymer surfactants which should be taken into account for their biomedical applications.