Vesicles exposed to the human circulatory system experience a wide range of flows and Reynolds numbers. Previous investigations of vesicles in fluid flow have focused on the Stokes flow regime. In this work the influence of inertia on the dynamics of a vesicle in a shearing flow is investigated using a novel level-set computational method in two dimensions. A detailed analysis of the behaviour ...

Liquid crystalline (LC) materials, such as actin or tubulin networks, are known to be capable of deforming the shape of cells. Here, elements of that behavior are reproduced in a synthetic system, namely, a giant vesicle suspended in a LC, which we view as a first step toward the preparation of active, anisotropic hybrid systems that mimic some of the functionality encountered in biological sys...

Membrane/ protein trafficking in the secretory/ biosynthetic and endocytic pathways is mediated by vesicles. Vesicle trafficking in eukaryotes is regulated by a class of small monomeric GTPases the Rab protein family. Rab proteins represent the largest branch of the Ras superfamily GTPases, and have been concerned in a variety of intracellular vesicle trafficking and different intracellular sig...

Of 51 patients with herpes simplex labialis, 50 had detectable interferon (IFN) in samples of lesion vesicle fluid. The median titer of vesicle fluid IFN was 8,200 U. and the range of values was 400 to 63,600 U. The amount of vesicle fluid IFN was correlated with lesion age (r = 0.32, P = 0.024) and vesicle fluid virus titer (r = 0.59, P = 0.00004), but not with the clinical severity of the dis...

In the presence of an attractive surface, a vesicle can undergo shape transformations between two different free states, between a free and a bound state, and between two different bound states. Adhesion can also lead to topological changes such as vesicle rupture and vesicle fusion. The interaction between the vesicle membrane and the surface is renormalized by thermally excited shape fluctuat...

Cargo transport along microtubules is driven by the collective function of microtubule plus- and minus-end-directed motors (kinesins and dyneins). How the velocity of cargo transport is driven by opposing teams of motors is still poorly understood. Here, we combined inducible recruitment of motors and adaptors to Rab6 secretory vesicles with detailed tracking of vesicle movements to investigate...

Uptake of neurotransmitters into synaptic vesicles is driven by the proton gradient established across the vesicle membrane. The acidification of synaptic vesicles, therefore, is a crucial component of vesicle function. Here we present measurements of acidification rate constants from isolated, single synaptic vesicles. Vesicles were purified from mice expressing a fusion protein termed Synapto...