Nanomechanical analysis between a model cellular membrane and polyhexamethylene guanidine

Abstract

Wide range of pollutants, toxins, antibiotics or antimicrobial compounds interact with biological membranes, and precise evaluations of the molecular interactions between biological membranes and the potentially toxic chemicals are essential to foresee the toxicity and bioavailability of existing or newly synthesized molecules. In this study, surface forces apparatus measurement and Langmuir trough based tensiometry are performed to reveal molecular interaction mechanisms between potentially toxic compounds and biological membranes for ex vivo toxicity evaluation. As a toxic compound, polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) was selected because PHMG containing humidifier disinfectant and Vodka caused lots of victims in both S. Korea and Russia, respectively, due to the lack of holistic evaluation of the toxicity of PHMG. We demonstrated potential of using SFA and LB tensiometry as toxicology testing methods by showing that only PHMG strongly interacts with biological membrane interface.