Theory of cell membrane interaction with glass

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding cell membrane interactions with glass, explicitly incorporating hydration effects and electrostatic and electromagnetic forces, aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model including hydration, ion-correlation, and electromagnetic fluctuations to explain membrane-glass interactions.

Findings

Accurately predicts tight adhesion energy and detachment pressure.

Matches experimental data on repulsion forces and their distance dependence.

Provides a unified theoretical approach for membrane-surface interactions.

Abstract

There are three regimes of cell membrane interaction with glass - Tight and loose adhesion, separated by repulsion. Explicitly including hydration, this paper evaluates the pressure between the surfaces as functions of distance for ion-correlation and ion-screened electrostatics, and electromagnetic fluctuations. The results agree with data for tight adhesion energy (0.5-3 vs 0.4-4 mJ/m2), detachment pressure (7.9 vs 9 MPa), and peak repulsion (3.4-7.5 vs 5-10 kPa), also matching the repulsion's distance dependence upon renormalization by steric pressure mainly from undulations.