(587g) Evaluating Mechanical Properties of Bilayer Membranes Using Dissipative Particle Dynamics | AIChE

(587g) Evaluating Mechanical Properties of Bilayer Membranes Using Dissipative Particle Dynamics

Authors 

Thakkar, F. M. - Presenter, Indian Institute of science
Maiti, P. K. - Presenter, Indian Institute of Science
Kumaran, V. - Presenter, Indian Institute of science
Ayappa, K. G. - Presenter, Indian Institute of Science


Membrane deformability plays a crucial role in many functions that a live cell performs. Elastic properties, such as bending modulus, is a function of the bilayer composition, membrane thickness and temperature of the system. Theoretical studies suggest that the bending modulus κ~d p, where d is the membrane thickness and the exponent p is between 2-3. In the present work, dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) is used to obtain the bending modulus as a function of membrane thickness. Our study shows that the soft repulsive bead representation in a DPD model accurately captures the scaling of the bending modulus, κ as a function of the membrane thickness. Using the same method, we have also investigated the bending modulus of the lipid bilayers in the low temperature gel (Lβ) phase. Depending on the chain length, the bending modulus in the gel phase is about 9 to 16 times larger than that observed for the liquid crystalline (Lα) phase. This increase in the bending modulus for the gel phase is in the range of experimentally observed changes during gel to the liquid crystalline phase transition.