Description
At physiological temperatures, most biological membranes noticeably fluctuate and these thermal fluctuations appear to govern an astounding array of biological functions: cell adhesion, membrane fusion, self-assembly, binding–unbinding transition among others. In this discussion, I will: (i) critically re-examine the entropic repulsive force between two fluctuating membranes and attempt to resolve a recent controversy on this issue, (ii) discuss the effect of curvature on thermal fluctuations and, (iii) discuss the connection between thermal fluctuations and electromechanical coupling in membranes –including implications for the minimum electric field that can be -detected by a cell.
Recommended Citation
Sharma, P., Ahmadpoor, F., Liu, L., & Hanlumyuang, Y. (2014). Thermal fluctuations of biological membranes. In A. Bajaj, P. Zavattieri, M. Koslowski, & T. Siegmund (Eds.). Proceedings of the Society of Engineering Science 51st Annual Technical Meeting, October 1-3, 2014 , West Lafayette: Purdue University Libraries Scholarly Publishing Services, 2014. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ses2014/honors/prager/15
Thermal fluctuations of biological membranes
At physiological temperatures, most biological membranes noticeably fluctuate and these thermal fluctuations appear to govern an astounding array of biological functions: cell adhesion, membrane fusion, self-assembly, binding–unbinding transition among others. In this discussion, I will: (i) critically re-examine the entropic repulsive force between two fluctuating membranes and attempt to resolve a recent controversy on this issue, (ii) discuss the effect of curvature on thermal fluctuations and, (iii) discuss the connection between thermal fluctuations and electromechanical coupling in membranes –including implications for the minimum electric field that can be -detected by a cell.