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Drug-membrane interactions immediately occur when drugs are administered, independently of the route of administration or the target location (i.e., intracellular or within the membrane) [[1]]. In this Special Issue entitled " I Study on Drug-Membrane Interactions" i , several elegant contributions on drug-membrane interaction studies field were provided. Different biophysical methods can be used to understand drug-membrane interactions and gain better knowledge about the drugs' pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and toxicity, and consequently, potential side effects of drugs [[1]]. [Extracted from the article]

Benzimidazole derivatives have gained attention recently due to their wide pharmacological activity acting as anti-inflammatory, hypotensive, analgesic, and anti-aggregatory agents. They are also common ligands in transition metal coordination chemistry, forming complex compounds with enhanced biological properties, especially in targeted cancer therapy. A key issue to understand anti-tumour effects is drug permeability through cellular membranes, as poor permeability outcomes can avert further futile drug development. In this work, we conducted atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and biased MD simulations to explore the interactions of 2-benzimidazolyl-urea with a phospholipid bilayer (dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, DPPC) together with a previously synthesized copper(II) complex compound. The aim was to study the permeability of these compounds by assessing their free energy profile along the bilayer normal. The simulations indicated that both the ligand (2-benzimidazolyl-urea, BZIMU) and the complex show a similar behaviour, yielding high energy barriers for the permeation process. However, with increasing concentration of BZIMU, the molecules tend to aggregate and form a cluster, leading to the formation of a pore. Clustering and pore formation can possibly explain the previously observed cytotoxicity of the BZIMU molecule via membrane damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]