Abstract
BackgroundGravity, especially hypergravity, can affect the morphology of membranes, and further influence most biological processes. Since vesicle structures are relatively simple, the vesicle can be treated as a vital model to study the mechanical properties of membranes in most cases. Basic research on membrane tension has become a vital research topic in cellular biomechanics.MethodsIn this study, a new vesicle model is proposed to quantitatively investigate the response of membrane tension to gravity. In the model, the aqueous lumen inside the vesicle is represented by water, and the vesicle membrane is simplified as a closed, thin, linear elastic shell. Then, the corresponding static equilibrium differential equations of membrane tension are established, and the analytical expression is obtained by the semi-inverse method. The model parameters of the equations are accurately obtained by fitting the reported data, and the values calculated by the model agree well with the reported results.ResultsThe results are as follows: First, both the pseudo-ellipsoidal cap and the pseudo-spherical cap can be used to describe the deformed vesicle model; however, the former can better represent the deformation of the vesicle model because the variance of the pseudo-ellipsoidal cap is smaller. Second, the value of membrane tension is no longer a constant for both models. Interestingly, it varies with the vesicle height under the action of gravity. The closer it is to the substrate, the greater the membrane tension. Finally, the inclination between the tangent and the radial lines at a certain point is nearly proportional to the radius of the cross section in both models.ConclusionThese findings may be helpful to study the vesicle model spreading more accurately by taking into account the influence of gravity because it could affect the distribution of membrane tension. Furthermore, it may also provide some guidance for cell spreading and may have some implications for membrane tension-related mechanobiology studies, especially in the hypergravity conditions.
Highlights
Gravity, especially hypergravity, can affect the morphology of membranes, and further influence most biological processes
The results indicate that both the pseudo-ellipsoidal cap and the pseudo-spherical cap can describe the deformed vesicle model by gravity
The variance of the pseudo-ellipsoidal cap is equal to 0.83, and that of the pseudo-spherical cap is 1.23, indicating that the pseudo-ellipsoidal cap may be a better representation of the deformed vesicle model
Summary
Especially hypergravity, can affect the morphology of membranes, and further influence most biological processes. Gravity is constantly exerted on organisms [1], and some studies have shown that gravity can affect numerous physical and biological processes: biological cells are no exception [2]. Biological systems interact with gravity on different levels of organization, from the whole organisms [3] to cells [4], to membranes [5] and even down to the function of single proteins [6], and many experiments have directly demonstrated that biological processes from single molecules to various levels of tissue are dependent on gravity. Microgravity is the absence of gravity, which usually exists in spaceflights to different planets or moons. Hypergravity, which may be experienced by living cells in certain
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