Abstract
Nucleation theory has been widely applied for the interpretation of critical phenomena in nonequilibrium systems. Ligand-induced receptor clustering is a critical step of cellular activation. Receptor clusters on the cell surface are treated from the nucleation theory point of view. The authors propose that the redistribution of energy over the degrees of freedom is crucial for forming each new bond in the growing cluster. The expression for a kinetic barrier for new bond formation in a cluster was obtained. The shape of critical receptor clusters seems to be very important for the clustering on the cell surface. The von Neumann entropy of the graph of bonds is used to determine the influence of the cluster shape on the kinetic barrier. Numerical studies were carried out to assess the dependence of the barrier on the size of the cluster. The asymptotic expression, reflecting the conditions necessary for the formation of receptor clusters, was obtained. Several dynamic effects were found. A slight increase of the ligand mass has been shown to significantly accelerate the nucleation of receptor clusters. The possible meaning of the obtained results for medical applications is discussed.
Highlights
Modern concepts of critical phenomena in physicochemical nonequilibrium systems were formed after a well-known work, in which the concept of the critical size of a new phase nucleus was introduced [1]
The macroscopic features of nonequilibrium transitions were studied in detail [10,11,12,13,14]
It became clear that various biological systems undergo nonequilibrium transitions similar to a first-order phase transition [9,15,16]
Summary
Modern concepts of critical phenomena in physicochemical nonequilibrium systems were formed after a well-known work, in which the concept of the critical size of a new phase nucleus was introduced [1]. The approaches developed within the framework of this theory find their application in the interpretation of a wide range of phenomena in systems demonstrating first-order phase transitions [3,4,5,6]. Clustering of receptors, under certain conditions, can occur on the cell surface even in the absence of any specific ligands [8,17,32]. These phenomena seem to be isomorphic to homogeneous nucleation in nonequilibrium systems [3,4,5]. The goal is to apply the approaches developed earlier in the framework of nucleation theory and its physicochemical applications to the analysis of ligand-receptor biological clustering. The possible meaning of the obtained results for medical applications is discussed
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