Effects on lipid bilayer and nitrogen distribution induced by lateral pressure.

The lateral pressure exerted on cell membrane is of great importance to signal transduction. Here, we perform molecular dynamics simulation to explore how lateral pressure affects the biophysical properties of lipid bilayer as well as nitrogen distribution in the membrane. Our results show that both physical properties of cell membrane and nitrogen distribution are highly sensitive to the lateral pressure. With the increasing lateral pressure, area per lipid drops and thickness of membrane increases obviously, while nitrogen molecules are more congested in the center of lipid bilayer than those under lower lateral pressure. These results suggest that the mechanism of nitrogen narcosis may be related to the lateral pressure.