Recent developments in the field of bending rigidity measurements on membranes

Ellipsoidal Relaxation of Deformed Vesicles

“…Second, in the analysis above we have effectively presented a method to simultaneously extract κ and Γ 0 . The former is an intrinsic membrane property, and the value from our analysis, 1.22 × 10 −19 J, agrees well with that from the literature (0.39 − 1.6 × 10 −19 J [13]). The initial membrane tension, Γ 0 , is a non-intrinsic property that depends on the history of every vesicle and can be modulated by means such as changes in the extra-and intra-vesicular osmolarity.…”

“…In each case (except fluctuation spectroscopy), the common strategy is to investigate the deforming response of the membrane via the application of external forcing. Mechanical properties such as the bending rigidity and elastic modulus can be extracted via model analysis, e.g., of the force-deformation relation [13][14][15][16]. These studies shed significant insight on the lipid membrane as a soft material, and provide powerful analytical tools for its mechanical characterization.…”

Communication: Rigidification of a lipid bilayer by an incorporated n-alkane

“…4 Owing to the "bidirectional effect," a bilayer a) Electronic mail: kazuya@chem.tsukuba.ac.jp in the gel phase becomes less rigid by the incorporation of cholesterol, while a bilayer in the liquid-crystalline phase becomes more rigid. 4,5 The ratio of the bending rigidity of the liquid-ordered phase is just 1.25 times higher than that of the liquid-crystalline phase with cholesterol, 6 while the ratio is about 10 without cholesterol. 7 The "bidirectional effect" on the morphology of a bilayer vesicle results in an interesting situation when cholesterol is mixed with two lipids that are in the gel and liquid-crystalline phases, respectively.…”

Particle-based membrane model for mesoscopic simulation of cellular dynamics

“…As expected, the value of the bending rigidity depends on temperature, as well as the composition of the bilayer membrane. The range 10 kT to 40 kT is usually quoted 85,86 . Since we are presently not focusing on simulating a membrane with a specific composition, the value of 20 kT is chosen for the bending rigidity 87 .…”

“…II C, it is necessary to have elastic constants of a bilayer membrane, namely κ andκ, as input. Experimental determination of the bending rigidity, κ, is based on the two general approaches of monitoring fluctuations or by pulling out tethers and measuring the forces involved 85,86 . As expected, the value of the bending rigidity depends on temperature, as well as the composition of the bilayer membrane.…”