ベシクルの細孔透過過程

Tohoku University川勝年洋課

ベシクルの細孔透過過程

Tohoku University川勝年洋課

Curvature effects in charge-regulated lipid bilayers

We formulate a theory of electrostatic interactions in lipid bilayer membranes where both monolayer leaflets contain dissociable moieties that are subject to charge regulation. We specifically investigate the coupling between membrane curvature and charge regulation of a lipid bilayer vesicle using both the linear Debye-H\"uckel (DH) and the non-linear Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory. We find that charge regulation of an otherwise symmetric bilayer membrane can induce charge symmetry breaking, non-linear flexoelectricity and anomalous curvature dependence of free energy. The pH effects investigated go beyond the paradigm of electrostatic renormalization of the mechano-elastic properties of membranes.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Translocation of a daughter vesicle in a model system of self-reproducing vesicles

Translocation of a daughter vesicle from a mother vesicle through a pore is experimentally studied by many groups using a model system of self-reproducing vesicles. However, the theoretical formulation of the problem is not fully understood. In the present study, we present a theoretical formulation of the process based on our previous work [P. Khunpetch et al., Phys. Fluids 33, 077103 (2021)]. In our previous work, we considered the daughter vesicle as a rigid body. In the present work, however, we allow the daughter vesicle to deform during the expulsion process. We thus derive the free energy constituting of the elastic moduli of both the mother and daughter vesicles, and of pressure-driven contribution. The minimum energy path of the translocation is searched by using the string method. Our improved model successfully suggests the disappearance of the energy barrier where all the elastic moduli are in agreement with the experimental reports, while the previous work is unsuccessful to do so. The equations of motion of the daughter vesicle have been derived within the framework of the Onsager principle. We found that the translocation time of the daughter vesicle can be reduced when the pressure inside the mother vesicle increases, or the initial size of the daughter vesicle decreases

Curvature effects in interfacial acidity of amphiphilic vesicles

We analyze the changes in the vicinal acidity (pH) at a spherical amphiphilic membrane. The membrane is assumed to contain solvent accessible, embedded, dissociable, charge regulated moieties. Basing our approach on the linear Debye-H\"uckel as well as the non-linear Poisson-Boltzmann theory, together with the general Frumkin-Fowler-Guggenheim adsorption isotherm model of the charge regulation process, we analyse and review the dependence of the local pH on the position, as well as bulk electrolyte concentration, bulk pH and curvature of the amphiphilic single membrane vesicle. With appropriately chosen adsorption parameters of the charge regulation model, we find a good agreement with available experimental data.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figure