Molecular dynamics simulations and free energy profile of Paracetamol in DPPC and DMPC lipid bilayers

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and biased MD simulation were carried out for the neutral form of Paracetamol inserted in fully hydrated dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) lipid bilayers. For comparison, fully hydrated DMPC and DPPC lipid bilayers were also simulated separately without Paracetamol. The simulation time for each system was 50 ns. At two concentrations of Paracetamol, various properties of the lipid bilayer such as area per lipid, order parameter, diffusion coefficient, radial distribution function, electrostatic potential, mass density and hydrogen bonds have been calculated. Also, the convergence in time of the free energy profile of the Paracetamol along a DPPC bilayer normal was calculated by umbrella sampling method. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that neutral form of Paracetamol shows a generally similar behaviour in DPPC and DMPC lipid bilayers. It was shown that the addition of Paracetamol causes a decrease in tail order parameter of both DPPC and DMPC lipid bilayers and the tail of Paracetamol adopts an inward orientation in the lipid bilayers. Also from the free energy profile, the high penetration barrier in the bilayer centre was determined.