A Computational Study of Blebbing in Lipid Membranes

Blebs are membrane protrusions that appear during several physiological processes in eukaryotic cells. The phase behavior and kinetics of blebbing in cellular membrane is investigated computationally using a particle-based model for self-assembled lipid vesicles apposed to an elastic meshwork, mimicking a cell's cytoskeleton. We found that blebbing is induced when the cytoskeleton is subjected to a localized ablation, detachment from the membrane, or a uniform contraction. These results are in good agreement with experiments.