High-generation polycationic dendrimers are unusually effective at disrupting anionic vesicles: membrane bending...

The membrane disruption properties of high generation (G4 to G7) poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are evaluated and compared to linear poly(lysine). The G6 and G7 dendrimers are unusually effective at inducing leaky fusion of anionic, large unilamellar vesicles, as determined by standard fluorescence assays for lipid mixing, leakage, and contents mixing. Both G7 dendrimer and poly(lysine) are able to disrupt sterically stabilized vesicles that are coated with poly(ethylene glycol). A G7 dendrimer/DNA complex with a 1:1 concentration ratio of dendrimer surface amines to DNA phosphate groups is unable to induce leakage of 3:7 POPA-PE vesicles; however, extensive leakage is observed when the surface amine to phosphate stoichiometry is >/=3:1. Thus, the DNA/dendrimer complexes that typically induce high levels of cell transfection are also able to induce high levels of vesicle leakage. The G7 dendrimer does not induce membrane phase separation in 3:7 POPA-PE vesicles, but an inverse hexagonal phase is observed by (31)P NMR. The enhanced membrane disruption is interpreted in terms of a membrane bending model. A rigid, polycationic dendrimer sphere uses electrostatic forces to bend a malleable, anionic membrane and induce bilayer packing stresses. This bending model is biomimetic in the sense that protein-induced membrane bending is currently thought to be an important factor in the fusion mechanism of influenza virus.