Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 24: Posters: Membranes and vesicles

BP 24.2: Poster

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 14:00–16:00, Poster A

Modelling the Red Blood Cell membrane — •Daniel Schmidt^1,2, Udo Seifert², and Ana-Sunčana Smith¹ — ¹Inst. f. Theor. Physik and Excellence Cluster "Engineering of Advanced Materials", Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg — ²II. Inst. f. Theor. Physik, Universität Stuttgart

The outer shell of a Red Blood Cell (RBC) is understood as a flexible membrane with the underlying cytoskeletal network of spectrin fibres. The spectrin network is connected to the membrane at specific junctions of the network. Thereby, the connections between the spectrin network and the membrane open and close stochastically which is actively regulated. In experiments, with advanced microscopic techniques, the membrane spectrum is measured without detailed knowledge about the underlying network.

We model the flexible membrane by the famous Helfrich-Hamiltonian with bending rigidity and membrane tension, whereas the connections to the spectrin network are simple harmonic springs. More precisely, we investigate an almost planar segment of the RBC membrane and the connections open and close stochastically accordingly to the binding affinity. With this model, we look at the experimentally accessible membrane spectrum. Moreover, in a continuum approach, we compare our results to an often used membrane model with a harmonic interaction instead of connections to the spectrin network.