Thermodynamics and dynamics of the formation of spherical lipid vesicles.
We propose a free energy expression accounting for the formation of spherical vesicles from planar lipid membranes and derive a Fokker-Planck equation for the probability distribution describing the dynamics of vesicle formation. We find that formation may occur as an activated process for small membranes and as a transport process for sufficiently large membranes. We give explicit expressions for the transition rates and the characteristic time of vesicle formation in terms of the relevant physical parameters.
Hernández-Zapata
Ernesto
E
Departamento de Física, Matemáticas e Ingeniería, Universidad de Sonora, C.P. 83600, H. Caborca, Sonora, México. ernestoherz@yahoo.com.mx
Martínez-Balbuena
Luciano
L
Santamaría-Holek
Iván
I