Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2011
Volume 56, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 21–25, 2011; Dallas, Texas
Abstract: S1.00135 : Machanistic basis of rigidity sensing at biological interfaces
Author:
We have outlined a framework to investigate the thermodynamic
equilibrium
adhesion of a bio-membrane to a compliant substrate
functionalized with
immobilized bio-adhesive ligands. The membrane is modeled as a
soft elastic
shell, subjected to surface tension and reconstituted with mobile
receptors
and a repelling layer on the ventral side. The free energy
function of the
system is assumed to be comprised from the following
contributions: the
membrane--substrate non-specific interactions, stored elastic
energy (in
deformed membrane and substrate), binding enthalpy, and mixing
entropy of
mobile receptors. Assuming a van der Waals form for the interfacial
non-specific potential, the equilibrium configuration of the
system is
studied in detail. We have shown that the equilibrium spread area
of the
adherent membrane is very sensitive to the rigidity of the
underlying
substrate and decreases as the surface compliance increases. This
prediction
is reminiscent of the experimental observations of spread area of
cells
attached to soft substrates. This is an interesting result
considering the
lack of contribution of intracellular signaling or actively
regulated
cytoskeleton in the proposed physical model for the adhesion.
This suggests
that the mechanistic pathways inherent to membrane--substrate
thermodynamic
interactions can be equally important as intracellular signaling
pathways to
mediate the process of rigidity sensing by cells.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2011.MAR.S1.135
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