Related papers: Charged cell membrane in electrolyte
We generalize the predictions for attractions between over-all neutral surfaces induced by charge fluctuations/correlations to non-uniform systems that include dielectric discontinuities, as is the case for mixed charged lipid membranes in…
Biomembranes are thin capacitors with the unique feature of displaying phase transitions in a physiologically relevant regime. We investigate the voltage and lateral pressure dependence of their capacitance close to their chain melting…
Contrary to existing theoretical models, experimental evidence points out that electroporation (membrane defect formation under external electric fields) starts to occur within the range of transmembrane voltages that cells may routinely…
The electrostatic contribution to spontaneous membrane curvature is calculated within Poisson-Boltzmann theory under a variety of assumptions and emphasizing parameters in the physiological range. Asymmetric surface charges, either fixed…
We report a new and facile method for measuring edge tensions of lipid membranes. The approach is based on electroporation of giant unilamellar vesicles and analysis of the pore closure dynamics. We applied this method to evaluate the edge…
Electrochemical phenomena in biology often unfold in confined geometries where micrometer- to millimeter-scale domains coexist with nanometer-scale interfacial diffuse charge layers. We analyze a model lipid membrane-electrolyte system…
We discuss the electrostatic contribution to the elastic moduli of a cell or artificial membrane placed in an electrolyte and driven by a DC electric field. The field drives ion currents across the membrane, through specific channels, pumps…
We consider the translocation of a neutral (uncharged) nanoparticle through a pore in a thin membrane with constant surface charge density. If the concomitant Debye screening layer is sufficiently thin, the resulting forces experienced by…
We have investigated the electronic structure of charged bilayer and trilayer phoshporene using first-principles, density-functional-theory calculations. We find that the effective dielectric constant for an external electric field applied…
An analytical model of mechanical stress in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) of a hydrogen/air fuel cell with porous Water Transfer Plates (WTP) is developed in this work. The model considers a mechanical stress in the membrane is a…
When the charge densities on the inner and outer surface of the vesicle membrane are similar one may assume that the potential at a point closer to the outer/inner surface is more affected by the charges located at the outer/inner surface…
Cells and cellular organelles are encapsulated by nanometrically thin membranes whose main component is a lipid bilayer. In the presence of electric fields, the ion-impermeable lipid bilayer acts as a capacitor and supports a potential…
The behavior of polyelectrolytes between charged surfaces immersed in semi-dilute solutions is investigated theoretically. A continuum mean field approach is used for calculating numerically concentration profiles between two electrodes…
The structural diversity of the solute molecules involved in biomolecular processes necessitates the characterization of the forces between charged macromolecules beyond the point-ion description. From the field theoretic partition function…
Cholesterol is known to modulate the structure and function of biological membranes. In this study, we use self-consistent field theory (SCFT) to investigate phospholipid/cholesterol bilayer membranes modeled with two types of diblock…
We consider a one-dimensional elastic membrane, which is pushed by growing filaments. The filaments tend to grow by creating local protrusions in the membrane and this process has surface energy and bending energy costs. Although it is…
A cell membrane can be simply regarded as composite material consisting of lipid bilayer, membrane cytoskeleton beneath lipid bilayer, and proteins embedded in lipid bilayer and linked with membrane cytoskeleton if one only concerns its…
A theoretical model of electroosmosis through a circular pore of radius $a$ that traverses a membrane of thickness $h$ is investigated. Both the cylindrical surface of the pore and the outer surfaces of the membrane are charged. When $h\gg…
Fusion of lipid bilayers in membranes is important in processes from vesicle-cell interactions (as in drug delivery) to exosome-cell signaling, while transient transmembrane electric fields are known to occur spontaneously. Two contacting…
We develop a model for a driven cell- or artificial membrane in an electrolyte. The system is kept far from equilibrium by the application of a DC electric field or by concentration gradients, which causes ions to flow through specific…