Lateral Membrane Heterogeneity Shapes Antimicrobial Association and Convergent Mechanical Responses

Lateral membrane heterogeneity in bacterial-like lipid vesicles shapes how octenidine, chlorhexidine, and polymyxin B associate, yet all three drive a common loss of membrane mechanical stability.

• Why it matters: It is unclear whether spatial organization in heterogeneous membranes only changes local drug binding or also propagates into collective mechanical responses that affect antimicrobial action.
• What they did: Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics, giant unilamellar vesicle fluctuation spectroscopy, and microfluidic trapping, the study tracked drug association and vesicle-scale behavior for octenidine, chlorhexidine, and polymyxin B.
• The result: All three preferentially associate with domain-associated environments, but differ in loading-dependent preference and lipid mobility effects; nonetheless, all shift membranes to a mechanically softer state and, with increased exposure, accelerate vesicle instability under flow.

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