Unraveling How Membrane Nanostructure Changes Impact the Eye Irritation of Nonionic Alkyl Ethoxylate Surfactants

作者：Xuzhi Hu, Mingrui Liao, Kangcheng Shen, Ke Ding, Mario Campana, Sophie van der Kamp, Elizabeth F. McInnes, Faheem Padia, Jian R. Lu · 发表于：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1021/acsami.3c14794 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Surfactants and Colloidal Systems、Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior、Dendrimers and Hyperbranched Polymers

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Nonionic surfactants used in agri-spraying processes may cause varying degrees of corneal irritation when they come in direct contact with farmers’ eyes, and the exact irritations are thought to be determined by how surfactants interact with corneal cell membranes. However, how nonionic surfactants interact with cell membranes at the molecular and nano levels remains largely unexplored. In this study, the interactions between nonionic surfactants (alkyl ethoxylate, C 12 E m ) and lipid membranes were examined by membrane permeability measurement, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation, dual polarization interferometry, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and neutron reflection, aiming to reveal complementary structural features at the molecular and nano levels. Apart from the extremely hydrophobic surfactant C 12 E 2, all nonionic surfactants studied could penetrate the model cell membrane composed of a phosphocholine lipid bilayer. Nonionic surfactants with intermediate amphiphilicity (C 12 E 6 ) rapidly fused into the lipid membrane and stimulated the formation of pores across the lipid bilayer, consistent with the cytoplasm leakage and fast cell necrosis observed from the cytotoxicity study of corneal cells. In comparison, while hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfactants [those with long and short ethoxylates (C 12 E 4,12,23 )] could cause mild structural alteration to the outer lipid layer of the membrane, these struct...