Interaction of PEGylated anti-hypertensive drugs, amlodipine, atenolol and lisinopril with lipid bilayer membrane: A molecular dynamics simulation study.

The interaction of PEGylated anti-hypertensive drugs, amlodipine, atenolol and lisinopril with lipid bilayer membrane dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) has been studied in nine different simulation systems consisting of 128 lipid molecules and appropriate number of water molecules by molecular dynamics method and by utilizing GROMACS software. The influences of PEGylation on the mentioned drugs and the differences in application of two types of spacer molecules on the performance of drugs and DMPC membrane have been evaluated and mass density of the components in the simulation box, mean square displacement (MSD), electrostatic potential, hydrogen bonding, radial distribution function (RDF), area per lipid, order parameter, and angle distribution of the component molecules including drug, DMPC and PEG has been investigated. Furthermore, umbrella sampling analysis indicated that, PEGylation of the drugs made amlodipine to behave more hydrophilic, whereas in case of lisinopril and atenolol, PEGylation made these drugs to behave more hydrophobic. In almost all of the simulated systems, PEGylation increased the diffusion coefficient of the drugs.