Mechanical Characteristics of Human Red Blood Cell Membrane Changing due to C60 Nano-particles Infiltration

Yue Zheng

The mechanical characteristics of human red blood cell (RBC) membrane changing due to C60 nano-particles (NPs) infiltration have been investigated in present work. Using experimental approaches including optical tweezers (OT) stretching and atomic force microscopy (AFM) indentation, we find that RBCs with C60 NPs presence are softer than normal RBCs. The stress-strain relations of both normal and C60 infiltrated RBC membrane are extracted from the data of AFM indentation, from which we proved that C60 NPs infiltration can affect the mechanical properties of RBC membrane and tend to weaken the tensile resistance of lipids bilayers. In order to explain experimental phenomenon, a mechanical model has been developed. Based on this model, the stress-strain relations of both normal and C60 infiltrated lipids bilayers are calculated with considering intermolecular interaction. The theoretical results are in great agreement with the experimental results. The influence of C60 NP’s concentration on mechanical properties of RBC membrane is successfully predicted. Higher concentrations of C60 NPs in the lipids bilayers will bring more damage to the cell membrane, implying that the dosage of C60 NPs should be controlled in medical applications.
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