title: Elastic energy of the discocyte-stomatocyte transformation.
abstract: The aim of this study is to calculate the membrane elastic energy for the different shapes observed in the discocyte-stomatocyte sequence. This analysis can provide a better quantitative understanding of the hypothesis put forward over the last decades to explain how red blood cells produce and maintain their typical shape. For this purpose, we use geometrical models based on parametric equations. The energy model considered for the elastic properties of RBC membrane includes the local and nonlocal resistance effects of the bilayer to bending. In particular, the results confirm the discocyte as the lowest energy value configuration among the sets of different red blood cell deformations considered in the sequence.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada III, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: smsm@ucm.es.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada III, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Sebastián
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada III, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sancho
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada III, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alvarez
mesh_terms: D004548:Elasticity; D004907:Erythrocyte Deformability / Q000502:physiology*; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008962:Models, Theoretical
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers
keywords: Bending energy; Discocyte–stomatocyte sequence; Erythrocyte membrane; Red blood cell shape