Local membrane curvature affects spontaneous membrane fluctuation characteristics

Abstract

Mechanical fluctuations on erythrocyte cell membranes were measured by phase-contrast optics at the cell centre and cell rim. Intensity changes were digitized by a linear charge-coupled device array and both frequency spectra and autocorrelation functions were calculated to detect fluctuation characteristics at these areas. Validation was performed with glutaraldehyde-treated cells. The influence of viscosity and membrane elasticity changes was evaluated by testing cells in solution of different osmolarities (239-392 mosmol I-1), and cells at different stages of diamide treatment (0.5-5.0 mmol I-1). The calculated membrane bending modulus of 1.4 E-19 J is in accordance with other findings. Despite an increase of endoplasmic viscosity, no homogeneous attenuation of the fluctuation amplitudes was observed, but a frequency shift was observed. Spectrin linkage caused by diamide has no effect on membrane fluctuations at the cell centre but it influences fluctuations at the cell rim, which can be explained by the higher membrane curvature at the cell rim compared with the lower, or even negative, membrane curvature at the cell centre.