Determination of spontaneous curvature and internal pressure of vesicles and red cells by their shape and the flexoelectric effect of membrane

Journal Article · Fri Oct 30 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Modern Physics Letters B; (Singapore)

OSTI ID:7023047

Ou-Yang, Z C; Hu, J G; Liu, J X ^[1]

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1. Inst. of Theoretical Physics, P.O. Box 2735, Beijing-100080 (China)

Three geometric relations for vesicle equilibrium within the Helfrich elasticity model have been derived. The relations can serve to determine the spontaneous curvature c[sub o] and cell internal pressure -[Delta]p=p[sup in]-p[sup ext] from the vesicle shape. In analogy with the theory of the flexoelectric effect of nematic liquid crystals we have also obtained a relation between c[sub o] and the membrane potential. By applying these predictions to the human red blood cell (RBC) shape measured by Evans and Fung we found good agreement of the calculated potential with measured values previously given by other biologists by direct impaling RBC with a microelectrode. In this paper, the calculated value of the internal pressure is discussed by comparison with previous works.works.

• OSTI ID: 7023047
• Journal Information: Modern Physics Letters B; (Singapore), Vol. 6:25; ISSN 0217-9849
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BLOOD CELLS
GEOMETRY
CELL MEMBRANES
BIOPHYSICS
BIOELECTRICITY
ELASTICITY
EQUATIONS
EQUILIBRIUM
MAN
POTENTIALS
PRESSURE GRADIENTS
SHAPE
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BLOOD
BODY FLUIDS
CELL CONSTITUENTS
ELECTRICITY
MAMMALS
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MEMBRANES
PRIMATES
TENSILE PROPERTIES
VERTEBRATES
550300* - Cytology