Biological Membrane and Bioactive Compounds Interactions

Dear Colleagues,

The interaction of drugs, as well as, natural bioactive compounds, with biological membranes is a complex and pharmacologically extremely important process. Drugs must cross biological membranes in order to be absorbed, and then undergo processes of distribution, metabolism and finally excretion. Moreover, enzymes, which may be membrane-bound proteins, are molecular targets of many drugs therefore pharmacological actions of different drugs may be a consequence of their direct interaction with proteins. There are also reports that some alternative mechanisms of action such as the chemoprevention of bioactive compounds e.g. non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or flavonoids, may also be related to their interaction with the biological membranes and specific membrane proteins. Changes induced in lipid phase, such as an alteration of membrane curvature and phase behavior may in consequence also indirectly modify a conformation of membrane proteins. An interesting type of molecular interaction is also the interaction of surfactants with proteins as well as with the membranes themselves, because some types of surfactants can also be used in the design of new types of drugs e.g. in lysosome-targeting anti-cancer drugs. For that reason the investigation of bioactive compounds-membrane interactions is essential for understanding of molecular mechanisms of their action.

This Special Issue aims to investigate all types of bioactive compounds–membranes interactions. We are pleased to invite you to submit your original research articles as well as reviews. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following topics related to interactions of bioactive compounds with :

• cellular membrane, and their influence on membrane structure, function and biomolecular organization and dynamics, fluidity and composition,
• model membranes and liposomes,
• membrane proteins, membrane traffic, receptors, and channels.

Both molecular modeling and simulation as well as biophysical (e.g. differential scanning calorimetry, fluorescence spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, circular dichroism, patch clamp) and various biological techniques can be used as research methods.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jadwiga Maniewska
Dr. Żaneta Czyżnikowska
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.