A phase-field model for vesicle membranes incorporating area-difference elasticity

TY - JOUR

T1 - A phase-field model for vesicle membranes incorporating area-difference elasticity

AU - Liang, Yihong

AU - Celiker, Emine

AU - Lin, Ping

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright: © 2026 Liang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2026/4/17

Y1 - 2026/4/17

N2 - This paper presents a phase-field model for simulating the three-dimensional deformation of vesicle membranes, incorporating area-difference elasticity (i.e., the elasticity arising from the difference between the inner and outer lipid leaflets), with constraints on bulk volume and surface area. We develop efficient numerical schemes based on the Fourier-spectral method for spatial discretization and temporal evolution. The model successfully captures a wide variety of steady-state vesicle shapes. The numerical experiments demonstrate that by tuning the simulation parameters, the vesicle can transition from a simple spherical and discocyte shape to complete membrane fission, asymmetric pear shaped structures, as well as complex multi-armed starfish-like and nested configuration. These results highlight the crucial role of area-difference elasticity in determining vesicle morphology.

AB - This paper presents a phase-field model for simulating the three-dimensional deformation of vesicle membranes, incorporating area-difference elasticity (i.e., the elasticity arising from the difference between the inner and outer lipid leaflets), with constraints on bulk volume and surface area. We develop efficient numerical schemes based on the Fourier-spectral method for spatial discretization and temporal evolution. The model successfully captures a wide variety of steady-state vesicle shapes. The numerical experiments demonstrate that by tuning the simulation parameters, the vesicle can transition from a simple spherical and discocyte shape to complete membrane fission, asymmetric pear shaped structures, as well as complex multi-armed starfish-like and nested configuration. These results highlight the crucial role of area-difference elasticity in determining vesicle morphology.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105036968592

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014185

DO - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014185

M3 - Article

C2 - 41996410

AN - SCOPUS:105036968592

SN - 1553-734X

VL - 22

SP - e1014185

JO - PLoS Computational Biology

JF - PLoS Computational Biology

IS - 4

ER -