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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: October 24, 2017
Thermodynamics and dynamics of the formation of spherical lipid vesicles
Ernesto Hernández-Zapata1, Luciano Martínez-Balbuena, Iván Santamaría-Holek
1Departamento de Física, Matemáticas e Ingeniería, Universidad de Sonora, C.P. 83600, H. Caborca, Sonora, México. ernestoherz@yahoo.com.mx
Abstract:
We propose a free energy expression accounting for the formation of spherical vesicles from planar lipid membranes and derive a Fokker-Planck equation for the probability distribution describing the dynamics of vesicle formation. We find that formation may occur as an activated process for small membranes and as a transport process for sufficiently large membranes. We give explicit expressions for the transition rates and the characteristic time of vesicle formation in terms of the relevant physical parameters.
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