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Updated: May 20, 2026

Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging and Force Spectroscopy of Supported Lipid Bilayers
Published on: July 22, 2015
Separation of components in lipid membranes induced by shape transformation
W T Góźdź1, N Bobrovska, A Ciach
1Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract:
Vesicles composed of a two component membrane with each component characterized by different spontaneous curvature are investigated by minimization of the free energy consisting of Helfrich elastic energy and entropy of mixing. The results show that mixing and demixing of membrane components can be induced by elongating a vesicle or changing its volume, if one of the components forms a complex with macromolecules on the outer monolayer. The influence of elastic coefficients on the separation of components is also examined.
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