Unperturbed hydrocarbon chains and liquid phase bilayer lipid chains: a computer simulation study

In this work, the properties of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid acyl chains 16:0, 18:0, 18:1(n-9)cis, 18:2(n-6)cis, 18:3(n-3)cis, 18:4(n-3)cis, 18:5(n-3)cis, 20:4(n-6)cis, 20:5(n-3)cis and 22:6(n-3)cis in a bilayer liquid crystalline state and similar hydrocarbon chains (with CH[Formula: see text] terminal groups instead of C=O groups) in the unperturbed state characterised by a lack of long-range interaction were investigated. The unperturbed hydrocarbon chains were modelled by Monte Carlo simulations at temperature [Formula: see text] K; sixteen fully hydrated homogeneous liquid crystalline phosphatidylcholine bilayers containing these chains were studied by molecular dynamics simulations at the same temperature. To eliminate effects of the simulation parameters, the molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations were carried out using the same structural data and force field coefficients. From these computer simulations, the average distances between terminal carbon atoms of the chains (end-to-end distances) were calculated and compared. The trends in the end-to-end distances obtained for the unperturbed chains were found to be qualitatively similar to those obtained for the same lipid chains in the bilayers. So, for understanding of a number of processes in biological membranes (e.g., changes in fatty acid composition caused by environmental changes such as temperature and pressure), it is possible to use, at least as a first approximation, the relationships between the structure and properties for unperturbed or isolated hydrocarbon chains.