A novel method for measuring the bending rigidity of model lipid membranes by simulating tethers.

Determining the bending modulus of a lipid membrane by simulating buckling.

The force needed to buckle a thin elastic surface is proportional to its bending rigidity. This fact suggests using a buckling setup to measure the bending modulus of lipid membranes. Extending the work of Noguchi [Phys. Rev. E 83, 061919 (2011)], we systematically derive highly accurate analytical expressions for the forces along and perpendicular to the buckle, and we elucidate some of their ...

A guiding potential method for evaluating the bending rigidity of tensionless lipid membranes from molecular simulation.

A new method is proposed to estimate the bending rigidity of lipid membranes from molecular dynamics simulations. An external cylindrical guiding potential is used to impose a sinusoidal deformation to a planar membrane. The bending rigidity is obtained from the mean force acting on the cylinder by calibrating against a discretized Helfrich model that accounts for thermal fluctuations of the me...

Coalescence of membrane tethers: experiments, theory, and applications.

Tethers are nanocylinders of lipid bilayer membrane, arising in situations ranging from micromanipulation experiments on synthetic vesicles to the formation of dynamic tubular networks in the Golgi apparatus. Relying on the extensive theoretical and experimental works aimed to understand the physics of individual tethers formation, we addressed the problem of the interaction between two nanotub...

Effect of cholesterol on the rigidity of saturated and unsaturated membranes: fluctuation and electrodeformation analysis of giant vesicles

Two different methods for measuring the bending stiffness of lipid membranes are used and further developed: fluctuation analysis and vesicle electrodeformation. For this purpose, fast camera imaging was employed minimizing the experimental effort. The methods were applied to study the effect of cholesterol on the bending stiffness of two types of membranes. We explored giant vesicles prepared ...

Applying Fuzzy Logic Model for Bending Rigidity Evaluation of Woven Fabrics