Thermodynamics of vesicle growth and instability

TL;DR

This paper models vesicle growth using linear irreversible thermodynamics, incorporating membrane energy, and determines the critical radius for shape instability under various absorption conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamic framework that includes membrane energy and analyzes vesicle stability during growth, extending previous models.

Findings

Calculated critical radius for vesicle shape instability.

Analyzed effects of water and solute absorption on vesicle growth.

Provided a thermodynamic description of vesicle dynamics.

Abstract

We describe the growth of vesicles, due to the accretion of lipid molecules to their surface, in terms of linear irreversible thermodynamics. Our treatment differs from those previously put forward by consistently including the energy of the membrane in the thermodynamic description. We calculate the critical radius at which the spherical vesicle becomes unstable to a change of shape in terms of the parameters of the model. The analysis is carried out both for the case when the increase in volume is due to the absorption of water and when a solute is also absorbed through the walls of the vesicle.