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. 1973 Mar;13(3):245–264. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(73)85983-1

Strain Energy Function of Red Blood Cell Membranes

R Skalak, A Tozeren, R P Zarda, S Chien
PMCID: PMC1484188  PMID: 4697236

Abstract

The several widely different values of the elastic modulus of the human red blood cell membrane which have been reported in the literature are incorporated into a single strain energy function consisting of two terms. One term gives the small stresses and low elastic modulus which is observed when the red cell membrane is deformed at constant area. The second term contributes a large isotropic stress dependent on the change of area. The strain energy function is applied to the process of sphering of red blood cells in a hypotonic solution. It is shown that a nearly perfect sphere can result even though the red blood cell membrane is homogeneous in all areas of the cell. Results pertinent to sieving and micropipette experiments are also explored.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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