CURVATURE INSTABILITY INDUCED BY DIFFUSING PARTICLES

In the studies of the curvature instability, the phase separation of the intercalated particles in the membrane and the amphiphilic molecules has been assumed. In the present paper, we discuss another mechanism; we consider the case where the intercalated particles move diffusively except for the coupling with the curvature of the membrane. The instability conditions are explicitly shown for flat and spherical cases. Based on the results, we give an intuitive explanation to the reversible echinocytosis of the red blood cell. We also discuss the application to the multi-component microemulsion systems.