Molecular Dynamics Study of the Effect of Charge and Glycosyl on Superoxide Anion Distribution near Lipid Membrane

To examine the effects of membrane charge, the electrolyte species and glycosyl on the distribution of negatively charged radical of superoxide anion (·O(2)(−)) around the cell membrane, different phospholipid bilayer systems containing ·O(2)(−) radicals, different electrolytes and phospholipid bilayers were constructed through Charmm-GUI and Amber16. These systems were equilibrated with molecular dynamics by using Gromacs 5.0.2 to analyze the statistical behaviors of ·O(2)(−) near the lipid membrane under different conditions. It was found that in the presence of potassium rather than sodium, the negative charge of the phospholipid membrane is more likely to rarefy the superoxide anion distribution near the membrane surface. Further, the presence of glycosyl significantly reduced the density of ·O(2)(−) near the phospholipid bilayer by 78.3% compared with that of the neutral lipid membrane, which may have a significant contribution to reducing the lipid peroxidation from decreasing the ·O(2)(−) density near the membrane.