Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Mechanisms of Membrane-bending

Mechanisms of Membrane-bending

The living membranes are flexible due to their fluid mosaic nature; however, their bending into different shapes is an active process regulated by specific lipids and proteins. The membrane bending can be transient as seen in vesicles or stable for a long time as in microvilli. Cells regulate the size, location, and duration of the membrane curvature.
Membrane bending can happen due to intrinsic changes in lipid composition or extrinsic association with different proteins. The proteins involved...

Pinching-off of Coated Vesicles

Pinching-off of Coated Vesicles

Vesicle budding is orchestrated by distinct cytosolic proteins such as adaptor proteins, coat proteins, and GTPases. To initiate vesicle budding, membrane-bending proteins containing crescent-shaped BAR domains bind to the lipid heads in the bilayer and distort the membrane to form a protein-coated vesicle bud. Adaptors proteins such as AP2 for clathrin-coated vesicles can nucleate on the deformed membrane. Finally, coat proteins such as clathrin or COPI and COPII assemble into a coat forming...

Cell Motility through Blebbing

Cell Motility through Blebbing

Blebs are a type of membrane protrusion formed by the internal hydrostatic pressure of the cytoplasm. Blebs are observed in several cell types, including fibroblasts, immune cells, and single-celled organisms like the amoeba. The primary function of blebs is cell locomotion and apoptosis, but they are also found during necrosis and cell division. The life cycle of a bleb comprises an initiation phase followed by the expansion and retraction phases.
Blebbing Through the Matrix
In multicellular...

The Movement of Organelles and Vesicles

The Movement of Organelles and Vesicles

In eukaryotic cells, cytoskeletal filaments such as actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments form a mesh-like cytoskeletal network. These filaments serve as tracks for transporting cellular cargo. Specialized motor proteins use the chemical energy stored in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for this transport. During interphase, microtubules are polarized, with the plus-end towards the cell periphery and the minus-end towards the cell center. Two microtubule-associated motor proteins,...

Principle of Virtual Work: Problem Solving

Principle of Virtual Work: Problem Solving

The principle of virtual work is an essential concept in the field of mechanics and engineering. This is used to solve problems related to the equilibrium of a structure or system. It is based on the assumption that if a system is in equilibrium, the work done by all the forces during a virtual displacement is zero. This principle is applied by considering virtual displacements of the system and the corresponding work done by internal and external forces.
To apply the principle of virtual work,...

Surface Tension and Surface Energy

Surface Tension and Surface Energy

When a paint brush is immersed in water, the bristles wave freely inside the water. When it is taken out, the bristles stick together. The reason behind this effect is surface tension.
Consider a beaker filled with liquid. The bulk molecules in the liquid experience equal attractive forces on all sides with the surrounding molecules. However, the surface molecules experience a net attractive force downward due to the bulk molecules. The surface of the liquid behaves like a stretched membrane,...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Hierarchical ground-state crystals underlying Hertzian quasicrystals.

Nature communications·2025

Same author

Transitional patterns on a spherical surface: from scars to domain defects of mixed lattices.

Soft matter·2025

Same author

Phase-field model for quantitative analysis of droplet wetting.

Soft matter·2025

Same author

Competing Hexagonal and Square Lattices on a Spherical Surface.

Nano letters·2025

Same author

Neural-network-based solver for vesicle shapes predicted by the Helfrich model.

Soft matter·2024

Same author

Forced extension of a wormlike chain in the Gibbs and Helmholtz ensembles.

The Journal of chemical physics·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 18, 2026

Obtention of Giant Unilamellar Hybrid Vesicles by Electroformation and Measurement of their Mechanical Properties by Micropipette Aspiration

Obtention of Giant Unilamellar Hybrid Vesicles by Electroformation and Measurement of their Mechanical Properties by Micropipette Aspiration

Published on: January 19, 2020

Pulling or compressing a vesicle by force: solution to the bending energy model.

Jeff Z Y Chen¹

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1. jeffchen@uwaterloo.ca

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|September 26, 2012

Summary

Vesicle shape changes under force were studied using a bending energy model. Researchers mapped how shape depends on force and volume, explaining experimental results.

More Related Videos

Membrane Remodeling of Giant Vesicles in Response to Localized Calcium Ion Gradients

Membrane Remodeling of Giant Vesicles in Response to Localized Calcium Ion Gradients

Published on: July 16, 2018

Pulling Membrane Nanotubes from Giant Unilamellar Vesicles

Pulling Membrane Nanotubes from Giant Unilamellar Vesicles

Published on: December 7, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 18, 2026

Obtention of Giant Unilamellar Hybrid Vesicles by Electroformation and Measurement of their Mechanical Properties by Micropipette Aspiration

Obtention of Giant Unilamellar Hybrid Vesicles by Electroformation and Measurement of their Mechanical Properties by Micropipette Aspiration

Published on: January 19, 2020

Membrane Remodeling of Giant Vesicles in Response to Localized Calcium Ion Gradients

Membrane Remodeling of Giant Vesicles in Response to Localized Calcium Ion Gradients

Published on: July 16, 2018

Pulling Membrane Nanotubes from Giant Unilamellar Vesicles

Pulling Membrane Nanotubes from Giant Unilamellar Vesicles

Published on: December 7, 2017

Area of Science:

Biophysics
Computational Biology
Materials Science

Background:

Vesicles, essential biological structures, undergo shape transformations.
Understanding these changes is key to cell mechanics and drug delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

To numerically solve the bending energy model for vesicles under axial force.
To investigate the phase diagram of vesicle shapes based on external force and reduced volume.

Main Methods:

Numerical solution of the bending energy model.
Analysis of vesicle shape transformations under controlled volume and surface area.
Phase diagram construction.

Main Results:

A comprehensive phase diagram illustrating vesicle shapes under varying forces and volumes was generated.
The model successfully explains previously observed experimental phenomena.
Specific shape transitions were identified and characterized.

Conclusions:

The bending energy model provides a robust framework for predicting vesicle morphology.
External force and reduced volume are critical parameters governing vesicle shape.
This work offers insights into the physical principles underlying cellular shape dynamics.