Phospholipid bilayer interleaflet friction from coarse-grained numerical simulations

Amphiphilic lipid bilayers modify the friction properties of the surfaces on top of which they are deposited [1]. In particular, the measured sliding friction coefficient is significantly reduced compared with the one of a native surface [2]. We investigate in this work the friction properties of a numerical coarse-grained model [3] of lipid bilayer subject to longitudinal shear. Interleaflet friction coefficients are extracted from out-of-equilibrium pulling and relaxation experiments. In particular we gain access to the transient viscoelastic response of the bilayer subect to normal shear. We then show how our method can be generalized to supported lipid bilayers.

[1] E. Falk et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.,2014, 16, 2154 (2014)
[2] L. Fu et al., Rev. of Sci. Instrum. 87, 033903 (2016).
[3] S.J. Marrink et al., J. Phys. Chem. B, 111, 7812-7824 (2007).