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The increased interest in studying membrane proteins has led to the development of new membrane mimics such as bicelles and nanodiscs. However, only limited knowledge is available of how these membrane mimics are affected by embedded proteins and how well they mimic a lipid bilayer. Herein, we present molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate structural and dynamic properties of small bicelles and compare them to a large alignable bicelle, a small nanodisc, and a lipid bilayer. Properties such as lipid packing and properties related to embedding both an α-helical peptide and a transmembrane protein are investigated. The small bicelles are found to be very dynamic and mainly assume a prolate shape substantiating that small bicelles cannot be regarded as well-defined disclike structures. However, addition of a peptide results in an increased tendency to form disc-shaped bicelles. The small bicelles and the nanodiscs show increased peptide solvation and difference in peptide orientation compared to embedding in a bilayer. The large bicelle imitated a bilayer well with respect to both curvature and peptide solvation, although peripheral binding of short tailed lipids to the embedded proteins is observed, which could hinder ligand binding or multimer formation.

The human serotonin transporter (hSERT), the human dopamine transporter (hDAT), and the human norepinephrine transporter (hNET) facilitate the active uptake of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine from the synaptic cleft. Drugs of abuse such as MDMA (streetname "ecstasy") and certain 1-phenyl-piperazine (PP) analogs such as 1-(3-chlorophenyl)-piperazine (mCPP) elicit their stimulatory effect by elevating the synaptic concentration of serotonin by blocking or reversing the normal transport activity of hSERT. Recent data suggest that certain analogs of PP may be able to counteract the addictive effect of cocaine. Little is still known about the precise mechanism by which MDMA and PP analogs function at hSERT, hDAT, and hNET and even less is known about the specific protein-ligand interactions. In this study, we provide a comprehensive biochemical examination of a repertoire of PP analogs in hSERT, hDAT, and hNET. Combined with induced fit docking models and molecular dynamics simulations of PP and 1-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-piperazine (3-OH-PP) bound to hSERT and hDAT, we present detailed molecular insight into the promiscuous binding of PP analogs in the monoamine transporters. We find that PP analogs inhibit uptake as well as induce release in all three monoamine transporters. We also find that the selectivity of the PP analogs can be adjusted by carefully selecting substituents on the PP skeleton.

Membrane mimics such as micelles and bicelles are widely used in experiments involving membrane proteins. With the aim of being able to carry out molecular dynamics simulations in environments comparable to experimental conditions, we set out to test the ability of both coarse grained and atomistic resolution force fields to model the experimentally observed behavior of the lipid 1,2-dihexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DHPC), which is a widely used lipid for biophysical characterization of membrane proteins. It becomes clear from our results that a satisfactory modeling of DHPC aggregates in solution poses different demands to the force field than do the modeling of bilayers. First, the representation of the short tailed lipid DHPC in the coarse grained force field MARTINI is assessed with the intend of successfully self-assemble micelles with structural characteristics comparable to experimental data. Then, the use of the recently presented polarizable water model in MARTINI is shown to be essential for producing micelles that are structurally in accordance with experiments. For the atomistic representations of DHPC micelles in solution the GROMOS96 force field with lipid parameters by A. Kukol fails to maintain stable micelles, whereas the most recent CHARMM36 lipid parameters and GROMOS96 with the so-called Berger lipid parameters both succeed in this regard.

Little is known about the long-term affects of head injury on achievement. The post-injury educational and occupational achievements of 520 survivors of penetrating head injury in Vietnam (and 85 uninjured controls) were examined 15 years after injury. Most patients (82%) had used Veterans Administration educational benefits to return to school, and many of those (64%) had achieved degrees. Return to work was strongly related to level of educational achievement, particularly among the most severely disabled. Though only 56% of the head injured were gainfully employed, the occupational distribution of those who were working differed little from uninjured controls, or the male labor force. Severity of injury affects educational achievement and return to work, but not the occupational distribution of those who do manage to return. Even the most severely injured can sometimes achieve high educational and occupational levels.