Theoretical study of interactions between striated cylindrical particles and membrane**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91027040 and 21274062).

Abstract

The interaction of nanoparticles with cell membranes is of great importance because of their potential biomedical applications. In this paper, we investigate the adhesion of stripe-patterned cylinders to a fluid membrane with a full consideration of the Helfrich free energy. Three situations are considered: one striated cylindrical particle, two pure cylindrical particles, and two Janus cylindrical particles. It is found that, with the adhesion of a single sparse striated cylinder, there are a variety of steady-states with energy barriers and the stable state is determined by the pattern of the cylinder. However, when the particle is densely striped, it has no effect on the stable state. By comparing the wrapping degree of two cylindrical particles with that of a single cylindrical particle, we find that two pure cylindrical particles can promote or suppress their interaction with the membrane under different situations. However, two Janus cylindrical particles can only inhibit their interaction with the membrane. Besides, this interaction is related to a first-order transition which is a shallow-to-deep wrapping transition for two pure cylinders while it is a shallow-to-half wrapping transition for two Janus cylinders. Furthermore, the position where the transition happens as a function of adhesion energy is given for fixed membrane tension and the precondition of the transition is presented.