Abstract:

The paper proposes a method for determining intracellular pressure of erythrocytes according to atomic force microscopy data. The method is based on comparison of experimental data on the morphology of cells with numerical calculations of the dependence the erythrocyte shape on the membrane pressure. We give a theoretical verification of the method and numerical calculation of the erythrocyte model, which takes into account the minimization of the free energy of the erythrocytes membrane and the interaction of hemoglobin with membrane. The fields of limitations of the method and its possibleapplications to medical and biological researches are considered.

Keywords: atomic force microscopy, biology, medicine, blood, erythrocytes, intracellular pressure