Long-lived anomalous thermal diffusion induced by elastic cell membranes on nearby particles
Abstract
The physical approach of a small particle (virus, medical drug) to the cell membrane represents the crucial first step before active internalization and is governed by thermal diffusion. Using a fully analytical theory we show that the stretching and bending of the elastic membrane by the approaching particle induces a memory in the system which leads to anomalous diffusion, even though the particle is immersed in a purely Newtonian liquid. For typical cell membranes the transient subdiffusive regime extends beyond 10 ms and can enhance residence times and possibly binding rates up to 50\%. Our analytical predictions are validated by numerical simulations.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1601.02101,
title = {Long-lived anomalous thermal diffusion induced by elastic cell membranes on nearby particles},
author = {Abdallah Daddi-Moussa-Ider and Achim Guckenberger and Stephan Gekle},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1601.02101},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
13 pages and 5 figures. The Supporting Information is included. Manuscript accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. E