Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 19: Cell Mechanics 2
BP 19.4: Talk
Wednesday, September 7, 2022, 15:45–16:00, H16
Competition between cell deformation and depletion force: Quantified by 3D image analysis of red blood cell doublets — •Mehrnaz Babaki1,2, Minne Paul Lettinga1,2, and Dmitry Fedosov3 — 1Biomacromolecular Systems and Processes (IBI-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany — 2Laboratory for Soft Matter and Biophysics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium — 3Theoretical Physics of Living Matter (IBI-5/IAS-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
Understanding cell deformation associated with an external force is the key to a full comprehension of the behaviour of cells under mechanical loading. Red Blood Cells (RBCs) are an extreme example of deformable cells. The high deformability of RBCs influences the blood flow and blood circulation in both physiological and pathophysiological conditions as well as RBC aggregation
We investigated the deformation of RBCs using analysis of the 3D reconstructed confocal images of the RBCs in aggregated doublets. Here we use non-absorbing rod-like particles, causing depletion attraction. Our analysis yields the change in the bending energy of RBCs in a doublet, as well as the change in the depletion energy.
We identified a sequence of configurational transitions of RBC doublets upon increasing rod-like particles concentration, thus maximizing the free volume available for the depletants at the cost of deformation energy. We compared the experimental results with simulations, where we explored the different energy contributions to deformation, as well as the stability of RBC doublets at low depletion force.