Biophysical experiments addressing IAPP amyloid growth and pore formation in model membranes with different lipid composition including DOPC, POPC, sphingomyelin, negatively charged phospholipids (POPS) and cholesterol, have demonstrated that zwitterionic phospholipids have a poor impact on amyloid growth but promote pore formation
[28][29][30][31][32]. Cholesterol, when present in lipid membranes reduces IAPP pores and fibrils formation
[33]. Concerning the role played by lipid vesicles in managing IAPP intra- and extra-cellular trafficking, some authors have investigated the interaction between IAPP, and exosomes obtained from T2DM patients and healthy people as a control. Exosomes from healthy subjects inhibited the formation of IAPP fibril growth. By contrast, exosomes extracted from diabetic individuals had no effect on fibril formation. Lipid composition of exosomes is believed to steer interactions with IAPP. In fact, differently from neuronal exosomes, no anionic lipids were found in exosomes from pancreatic tissues
[34]. It is widely accepted that anionic phospholipids catalyze fibrillogenesis. However, additional experimental data are needed to propose more accurate models depicting the role of exosomes in IAPP amyloidogenesis and diabetes development. Molecular simulations of membrane-bound hIAPP from different species have been carried out
[35][36][37] including the non-toxic, non-amyloidogenic rIAPP
[38]. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed short-lived α-helical and β-sheet structures throughout IAPP adsorption onto an anionic POPG (palmitoyl oleoyl phosphatidylglycerol) surface of a lipid bilayer
[36]. Membrane adsorbed IAPP monomers produced bending of the bilayer. HIAPP interaction with zwitterionic POPC (phosphatidylcholine) bilayer was investigated by MD simulations, and kinetics measurements of dye release from LUVs
[39]. Both simulations and experiments demonstrated that IAPP insertion into zwitterionic membranes is assisted by non-vesicular lipids that are present in solution at their critical micellar concentration (cmc). Other authors have adopted coupled coarse-grained/umbrella sampling molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the interactions of hIAPP with ganglioside-rich membranes
[35]. These simulations indicate that hIAPP locate in ganglioside-rich membrane regions due to electrostatic interactions promoting adhesion of cationic hIAPP peptides with anionic gangliosides. The three positively charged amino acids K1, R11 and H18 located in the N-terminal domain of IAPP are known to play a major role in driving interactions with negatively charged membranes
[40].