Simulation of gold nanoparticle movement through normal and cancer cell membranes

Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) have been used for a long time to target cancer cells. Different modalities have been suggested to utilize Au-NPs in cancer patients. We construct both normal and cancer cell membranes to simulate the Au-NP entry to understand better how it can penetrate the cancer cell membrane. We use molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) on both normal and cancer cell membrane models for 150 ns. At the same time, we prepared the Au-NP of spherical shape (16 nm radius) capped with citrate using MDS for 100 ns. Finally, we added the Au-NP close to the membranes and moved it using 1000 kJ mol−1 nm−1 force constant during the 7.7 ns MDS run. We analyzed the membranes in the presence and absence of the Au-NP and compared normal and cancer membranes. The results show that normal cell membranes have higher stability than cancer membranes. Additionally, Au-NP forms pore in the membranes that facilitate water and ions entry during the movement inside the lipid bilayer region. These pores are responsible for the enhanced response of Au-NP-loaded chemotherapeutic agents in cancer treatment.