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Related Experiment Videos

Free fluid vesicles are not exactly spherical.

Gunnar T Linke1, Reinhard Lipowsky, Thomas Gruhn

  • 1Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschüng, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Golm, Germany. linke@mpikg-golm.mpg.de

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
|August 11, 2005
PubMed
Summary
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Vesicles at finite temperatures are not always spherical. The most probable shapes are actually prolate or oblate due to entropic effects, challenging previous assumptions in biophysics.

Area of Science:

  • Soft matter physics
  • Biophysics
  • Statistical mechanics

Background:

  • Vesicles, biological membrane sacs, typically fluctuate around an average shape at finite temperatures.
  • Low temperatures or high bending rigidity lead to vanishing fluctuations, favoring energetically stable configurations.
  • The spherical shape is often assumed to be the most probable configuration for vesicles, even at finite temperatures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the most probable shapes of vesicles at finite temperatures, challenging the assumption of spherical dominance.
  • To determine if external forces are necessary to induce anisotropy in vesicle shapes.
  • To elucidate the role of entropic effects in vesicle shape determination.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical analysis of vesicle shape fluctuations at finite temperatures.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Consideration of systems with and without volume constraints.
  • Utilizing a three-dimensional crossed dumbbells model system.

    • Main Results:

    • Contrary to assumptions, the most probable vesicle shapes at finite temperatures (without volume constraint) are prolate or oblate.
    • Prolate shapes exhibit a slightly higher probability than oblate shapes.
    • The observed behavior at small deformations is an entropic effect, consistent across systems with and without osmotic pressure.

    Conclusions:

    • The spherical shape is not always the most probable configuration for vesicles at finite temperatures.
    • Vesicle shape anisotropy can arise from entropic effects, not solely from external forces.
    • These findings have implications for understanding the behavior and function of biological membranes.