Poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide) (PEO-PPO) block copolymers have shown protection against membrane-related injuries such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, ischemia/hypoxia repurfusion injury, and traumatic brain injury. However, the mechanism of block copolymer-based membrane protection is largely unknown. As part of a comprehensive effort to reveal the protection mechanism, we used surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to probe the binding behavior of the block copolymers onto lipid bilayers supported on a SPR chip surface. The dynamics and extent of binding of two polymers were examined and compared: Poloxamer P188, a well-known membrane protective amphiphilic triblock copolymer, and hydrophilic PEO homopolymer that does not show any membrane protection efficacy. Most notably, the PEO exhibited comparable membrane association to P188 (SPR signal of 2.0 ± 1.6 nm vs. 1.5 ± 1.1 nm at 4.5 mM concentration, respectively), which highlights the need for other mechanisms beyond membrane association to explain their differential efficacy.

Surface plasmon resonance study of interaction between membrane protective block copolymers and supported lipid bilayer

255th National Meeting (2018)

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