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Updated: May 14, 2026

Imaging of Extracellular Vesicles by Atomic Force Microscopy
Published on: September 11, 2019
Amplitude hierarchy of vesicle shapes
1Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung, Kantstraße 55, 14513 Teltow-Seehof, Germany.
Abstract:
Shapes of fluid lipid vesicles are governed by the bending elasticity of their membrane as described by the Area-Difference-Elasticity (ADE) model. These shapes can be quantified using a suitable modal representation of the vesicle contour. Prolate vesicles are characterized by a hierarchy in their shape amplitudes. Experimentally, we find an ordering of the amplitudes with mode number both in large (100 nm) as well as giant (10 μm) unilamellar vesicles. Mean shapes are found only within the small energetically stable region of the prolate phase. Our study demonstrates that bending energy concepts may be quantitatively used on cellular length scales ranging from the size of organelles to the plasma membrane.
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