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The constitutive equation for membrane tether extraction

Annals of Biomedical Engineering, ISSN: 0090-6964, Vol: 38, Issue: 12, Page: 3756-3765
2010
  • 10
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 22
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 24
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    10
  • Captures
    22
  • Social Media
    24
    • Shares, Likes & Comments
      24
      • Facebook
        24

Article Description

Membrane tethers or nanotubes play a critical role in a variety of cellular and subcellular processes such as leukocyte rolling and intercellular mass transport. The current constitutive equations that describe the relationship between the pulling force and the tether velocity during tether extraction have serious limitations. In this article, we propose a new phenomenological constitutive equation that captures all known characteristics of nanotube formation, including nonlinearity, nonzero threshold force, and possible negative tether velocity. We used tether extraction from endothelial cells as a prototype to illustrate how to obtain the material constants in the constitutive equation. With the micropipette aspiration technique, we measured tether pulling forces at both positive and negative tether velocities. We also determined the threshold force of 55 pN experimentally for the first time. This new constitutive equation unites two established ones and provides us a unified platform to better understand not only the physiological role of tether extraction during leukocyte rolling and intercellular or intracellular transport, but also the physics of membrane tether growth or retraction. © 2010 Biomedical Engineering Society.

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