Drug-membrane interaction is of great importance for drug research and development. Drug-membrane interactions modulate the physical properties of the membrane, which alter the functions of membrane proteins.[1] The complexity and highly dynamic nature of cell membrane hinder the investigation of drug-membrane interaction. Therefore, artificial model lipid membranes which mimic the cell membrane have been used to study the drug-membrane interactions under defined and controlled conditions. Several experimental techniques such as FT-IR, NMR, CD, DSC, Fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction are used to study the drug–membrane interactions.[2] However, fluorescent molecular probe-based techniques are considered suitable methods due to their higher sensitivity and multiparametric nature. The drug-membrane interactions can also be examined using the intrinsic fluorescence properties of the drug. In the colloquium, the interactions of membranes with various pharmacologically important drug molecules will be discussed using the intrinsic fluorescence properties of the drugs. Our first work discerns the molecular mechanism of the interactions of Curcumin with DMPC model lipid membrane using intrinsic fluorescence properties of the Curcumin. Curcumin shows a stabilising effect on the membrane at high concentration. The second work unveils the membrane-forming ability of Curcumin with Tween surfactant. The efficacy of the novel Tween-curcumin niosomal membrane as a drug delivery carrier has also been explored.[3] The third work is a comparative study on the photophysical behaviour of four different flavonoids Galangin, Kaempferol, Quercetin, and Myricetin, in both homogeneous solvent mediums and DMPC membrane. The work also discusses the effect of the B-ring hydroxy group on the formation of phototautomeric form and the scavenging activity of the flavonoids. The fourth work examines the contrasting interaction of Dopamine with neutral DMPC and negatively charged DMPS membranes. The phase transition temperature of the DMPC membrane remains unaffected with Dopamine; however, the phase transition is not observed for the DMPS membrane.
References
[1] Peetla, C.; Stine, A.; Labhasetwar, V. Mol. Pharm. 2009, 6 (5), 1264–1276.
[2] Seddon, A. M.; Casey, D.; Law, R. V.; Gee, A.; Templer, R. H.; Ces, O. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2009, 38 (9), 2509–2519.
[3] Sahu, A. K.; Mishra, J.; Mishra, A. K. Soft Matter 2020, 16 (7), 1779–1791.