Saffman-Delbr\"uck and beyond: a pointlike approach

Abstract

We show that a very good analytical approximation of Saffman-Delbr\"uck's (SD) law (mobility of a bio-membrane inclusion) can be obtained easily from the velocity field produced by a pointlike force in a 2D fluid embedded in a solvent, by using a small wavelength cutoff of the order of the particle's radius~$a$. With this method, we obtain analytical generalizations of the SD law that take into account the bilayer nature of the membrane and the intermonolayer friction $b$. We also derive, in a calculation that consistently couples the quasi-planar two-dimensional (2D) membrane flow with the 3D solvent flow, the correction to the SD law arising when the inclusion creates a local spontaneous curvature. For an inclusion spanning a flat bilayer, the SD law is found to hold simply upon replacing the 2D viscosity $\eta_2$ of the membrane by the sum of the monolayer viscosities, without influence of $b$ as long as $b$ is above a threshold in practice well below known experimental values. For an inclusion located in only one of the two monolayers (or adhering to one monolayer), the SD law is influenced by $b$ when $b<\eta_2/(4a^2)$. In this case, the mobility can be increased by up to a factor of two, as the opposite monolayer is not fully dragged by the inclusion. For an inclusion creating a local spontaneous curvature, we show that the total friction is the sum of the SD friction and that due to the pull-back created by the membrane deformation, a point that was assumed without demonstration in the literature.