Dynamics of Micelle Formation from Mixed Lipid Droplets

Amphiphilic lipid molecules can form various micelles depending on not only their molecular composition but also their self-assembly pathway. In this work, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations have been applied to study the micellization behaviors of mixed di-palmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC)/hexadecylphosphocholine (HPC) droplets. By vary-ing DPPC/HPC composition and the size of lipid droplets, various micelles such as spherical and nonspherical (oblate or prolate) vesicles, disk-like micelles, double or single ring-like and worm-like micelles were observed. It is found that the lipid droplet as an initial state favors forming vesicles and ring-like micelles due to in situ micellization. Our simulation results demonstrate that using special initial conditions combined with various molecular compositions is an effective way to tune lipid micellar structure.