Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 43: Membranes and Vesicles I (joint session BP/CPP)

CPP 43.4: Talk

Wednesday, March 14, 2018, 10:15–10:30, H 1028

Shapes of red blood cell doublets — •Masoud Hoore, Dmitry A. Fedosov, and Gerhard Gompper — Theoretical Soft Matter and Biophysics, Institute of Complex Systems, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH

Red blood cell (RBC) aggregates play an important role in determining blood rheology. RBCs in solution interact attractively to form various shapes of RBC doublets. Here, the attractive interactions can be varied by changing the solution conditions. A systematic numerical study on RBC doublet formation is performed, which takes into account the shear elasticity of the RBC membrane due to the spectrin cytoskeleton, in addition to the bending rigidity. The results are obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of triangulated surfaces considering thermal effects. The phase space of the RBC doublet shapes in a wide range of adhesion strengths, reduced volumes, and shear elasticities is obtained. Experimental images of RBC doublets in different solutions show similar configurations. Furthermore, it is shown that rouleau formation is affected by the doublet structure. It is shown that the shear elasticity of the RBC membrane changes the doublet phases significantly.