title: Microphysical derivation of the Canham-Helfrich free-energy density.
abstract: The Canham-Helfrich free-energy density for a lipid bilayer has drawn considerable attention. Aside from the mean and Gaussian curvatures, this free-energy density involves a spontaneous mean-curvature that encompasses information regarding the preferred, natural shape of the lipid bilayer. We use a straightforward microphysical argument to derive the Canham-Helfrich free-energy density. Our derivation (1) provides a justification for the common assertion that spontaneous curvature originates primarily from asymmetry between the leaflets comprising a bilayer and (2) furnishes expressions for the splay and saddle-splay moduli in terms of derivatives of the underlying potential.
authors: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, 805 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, QC, H3A 2K6, Canada, bseguin@math.mcgill.ca.
authors: Brian
authors: B
authors: Seguin
authors: Eliot
authors: E
authors: Fried
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008954:Models, Biological; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers
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